c. 

S<33j«L 
V)  0°) 


* 4 

warn 

•mm  mum 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


PRESIDENT'S  OFHCS. 


^ 2 ^1910 

g>t  3nl?n’s 

(gmmnmrotmtt 

attb 

(j)tte  mb  ©umity-ftftb 

Attnuierfiarg 


PRESS  OF 

dvertiser-republican 

ANNAPOLIS,  MD, 


if  84 


UNIVERSITY 


1909 


OF 


ILLINOIS 


PRESIDENT'S  OEF,CR 


PROCEEDINGS 


St.  ilnlnt’a  fflnllpgp 

(gmmtmtrmimt 

anil 

©it?  mb  (Uumity-fiftlj 

Atuitwraarg 


ANNAPOLIS 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  COLLEGE 
NOVEMBER,  1909 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/proceedingscomme1909stjo 


Iftstnriral 

St.  John’s  College,  at  Annapolis,  the  alma  mater  of  so  many  of 
Maryland’s  most  noted  and  honored  sons,  is  charmingly  situated  on 
the  banks  of  the  Severn  River,  a few  miles  from  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 
Nothing  in  the  country  surpasses  the  picturesque  beauty  of  its  situation. 

It  reaches  back  in  the  continuity  of  its  records  to  the  earliest  colonial 
times.  The  first  effort  to  establish  a college  in  Maryland  was  made  by 
the  General  Assembly,  convened  in  the  City  of  St.  Mary’s  in  the  year 
1671.  An  Act  was  then  passed  by  the  Upper  House  of  Assembly,  for 
1 ‘ founding  and  erecting  a school  or  college  for  the  education  of  youth 
in  learning  and  virtue.” 

This  Act  was  returned  by  the  Lower  House  with  certain  amend- 
ments providing  for  the  differences  in  religious  views  existing  at  that 
time  among  the  people,  which  amendments  were  not  acceptable  to  the 
Upper  House,  and  there  the  Bill  rested. 

In  1694,  the  then  Governor,  Sir  Francis  Nicholson,  sent  a message 
to  the  Legislature  proposing  ‘ ‘ that  a way  may  be  found  for  the  build- 
ing of  a free  school  for  the  province,”  and  offering  to  give  money  for 
its  maintenance.  The  plan  was  approved,  and  the  General  Assembly 
offered  subscriptions  of  tobacco.  No  further  action  was  taken  at  this 
time,  but  in  1696  an  Act  was  passed  which  resulted  in  the  establish- 
ment of  King  William’s  School.  This  Act  recites  that  the  school  was 
established  for  11  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  and  education  of  youth 
in  good  letters  and  manners.  ’ ’ It  was  addressed  to  1 ‘ His  most  excel- 
lent Majesty,  etc.,  Dread  Sovereign  William  III  of  England.”  This 
law  further  enacted  that  “ the  most  Reverend  Father  in  God,  Thomas, 
by  Divine  Providence,  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Primate  and 
Metropolitan  of  all  England,  may  be  Chancellor  of  said  school,  and  that 
to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  your  Majesty,  it  may  be  called  King 
William’s  School.” 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Bray,  who  had  been  appointed  Commissary  of 
Maryland  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  who  is  said  to  have  been  the 
originator  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  obtaining  this  said  Act. 

King  William’s  School  was  thus  established.  Governor  Nicholson  gave 
to  the  school  a lot  in  the  town  of  Annapolis,  with  the  house  thereon, 
and  the  Legislature  appropriated  money  to  it,  but  the  school-house  was 
not  finished  until  1701.  It  was  of  brick,  and  stood  on  the  south  side 
of  the  State  House. 

In  1784  the  charter  of  St.  John’s  College  was  granted,  two  years 
after  a like  charter  had  been  given  for  the  establishment  of  Washington 
College  at  Chestertown,  on  the  Eastern  Shore. 


4 


Historical  Sketch 


It  was  intended  by  the  terms  of  the  charter  that  the  two  colleges 
thus  founded  should  constitute  one  university  under  the  name  of  the 
University  of  Maryland. 

By  Act,  1785,  the  property  and  funds  and  students  of  King  Wil- 
liam’s School  were  conveyed  to  St.  John’s  College. 

Among  the  chattels  passed  to  the  college  were  a number  of  “ quaint 
and  curious  volumes  ” brought  over  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bray  from  Eng- 
land, and  which  still  remain  in  the  library  of  St.  John’s. 

On  November  11,  1789,  the  college  was  formally  opened,  and  the 
dedication  was  performed  with  much  solemnity,  all  the  public  bodies 
being  in  attendance,  and  forming  a long  procession  from  State  House 
to  College  Hall.  The  first  president  of  the  College  was  the  Rev.  J.  Mc- 
Dowell, LL.  D. 

Among  the  students  of  that  early  period  are  to  be  found  the  names 
of  George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  and  Fairfax  and  Lawrence  Wash- 
ington, nephews  of  George  Washington;  also,  of  Francis  Scott  Key,  who 
entered  St.  John’s  November  11,  1789,  and  graduated  in  1796. 

On  Friday  morning,  March  25,  1791,  President  Washington,  attended 
by  the  Governor  of  Maryland  and  a number  of  citizens,  visited  St.  John’s 
College,  and  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  the  appearance  of  this  rising 
institution. 

In  1807  Rev.  Dr.  Bethel  Judd  was  chosen  principal,  and  the  work, 
though  grievously  hampered  by  the  action  of  the  Legislature,  was  par- 
tially continued,  and  in  January,  1812,  $1,000  of  the  annuity,  which 
had  been  withdrawn  by  the  Legislature  in  January,  1806,  was  restored. 
A lottery  granted  in  1821  added  $20,000  to  the  funds,  and  enabled  the 
College  to  extend  its  work.  Rev.  Henry  Lyon  Davis  served  as  principal 
from  1820  to  1824,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Rafferty  from  1824  to 
1831.  In  1831  Rev.  Dr.  Hector  Humphreys  was  appointed  principal, 
and  by  his  persevering  efforts  and  personal  influence  with  the  members 
of  the  Legislature,  a sum  of  $3,000  was  added  to  the  annuity,  provided 
the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  should  agree  to  accept  it  “in  full 
satisfaction  of  all  legal  or  equitable  claims,  that  they  might  have  or  be 
supposed  to  have  against  the  State.  ’ ’ 

Dr.  Humphreys  wTas  succeeded  by  Rev.  C.  K.  Nelson.  He  guided  the 
College  successfully  till  1861,  when  the  College  buildings  were  utilized 
as  a military  hospital  by  the  United  States  Army  until  the  close  of 
the  war. 

After  the  war  the  College  buildings  wTere  put  in  thorough  repair,  and 
Dr.  Henry  Barnard,  of  Connecticut,  late  Commissioner  of  Education, 
was  elected  principal,  and  the  College  was  reopened  in  September,  1866. 
On  his  resignation,  the  following  summer,  Dr.  James  C.  Welling,  after- 
wards president  of  Columbian  University,  Washington,  D.  C.,  wras  chosen 
principal,  and  the  College  opened  in  the  autumn  with  115  students. 
Before  the  close  of  the  next  session,  the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors, 
in  recognition  of  an  increased  annuity,  passed  an  ordinance  establishing 
150  State  scholarships,  each  scholarship  entitling  the  holder  to  exemption 


Historical  Sketch 


5 


from  the  payment  of  room  rent  and  tuition  fees  in  any  department  of 
the  College,  and  the  number  of  students  in  attendance  increased  to  225. 
Dr.  Welling  resigned  at  the  close  of  the  session  JL869-70,  and  Dr.  James 
M.  Garnett,  afterwards  professor  of  English  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, was  appointed  in  his  stead.  Under  his  administration,  in  1871, 
the  first  class  since  1860  was  graduated,  and  continuously  thereafter, 
classes  have  been  duly  graduated  each  year.  In  1880  Dr.  James  M. 
Garnett,  with  other  members  of  the  faculty,  tendered  their  resignations, 
which  were  accepted  by  the  Board  of  Visitors,  and  the  Bev.  Dr.  J.  M. 
Leavitt  was  invited  to  undertake  the  administrative  duties  of  the 
College. 

In  the  summer  of  1884  Dr.  Leavitt  resigned,  and  went  abroad  for  his 
health,  and  Prof.  William  H.  Hopkins,  subsequently  appointed  President 
of  the  Woman’s  College,  Baltimore,  Md.,  was  installed  as  acting  princi- 
pal. He  maintained  control  during  the  sessions  of  1884-85  and  1885-86, 
but  in  spite  of  strenuous  efforts  on  his  part  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  things,  no  appreciable  progress  was  made.  Under  his  direction  and 
personal  efforts  the  detail  of  an  officer  from  the  United  States  Army, 
and  also  of  an  Engineer  from  the  United  States  Navy,  were  obtained, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  certain  Acts  of  Congress,  with  the 
conditions  of  which  St.  John’s  was  able  to  comply. 

He  resigned  in  the  summer  of  1886,  to  accept  the  position  offered  to 
him  by  the  trustees  of  the  Woman ’s  College,  Baltimore,  Md.,  and 
Dr.  Thomas  Fell  was  called  to  occupy  the  presidential  chair. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  1889,  the  College  celebrated  the  One  Hundredth 
Anniversary  of  its  existence  under  the  title  of  St.  John’s  College.  Many 
of  the  old  students  returned  for  the  occasion,  and  friends  who  had  not 
met  for  years  exchanged  the  heartiest  greetings.  Owing  to  the  large 
assemblage  of  visitors  a tent  was  erected  on  the  campus,  in  the  shade 
of  the  famous  old  poplar  tree,  where  the  literary  features  of  the  program 
were  carried  out. 

Toward  the  close  of  1891  the  Board  of  Visitors  authorized  President 
Fell  to  initiate  a movement  for  the  formation  of  an  endowment  fund. 
In  pursuance  of  this  object  he  has  met  with  much  success,  and  as  one 
of  the  results  of  his  efforts  in  this  direction,  has  paid  off  a mortgage 
debt  of  $30,000,  incurred  by  reinstating  and  equipping  the  College  after 
the  Civil  War. 

In  1901,  a new  scientific  building  was  erected  and  dedicated  to  the 
memory  of  Henry  Williams  Woodward,  the  father  of  James  T.  Wood- 
ward, President  of  the  Hanover  Bank,  New  York.  And  in  1904  a dining- 
hall  and  a new  dormitory  for  students  was  added  to  the  group  of 
buildings. 

In  1905,  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  made  a donation  for  the  erection  of 
a new  building  on  the  campus,  which  has  not  yet  been  built. 

In  January,  1907,  an  affiliation  was  formed  with  the  University  of 
Maryland,  making  St.  John’s  College  the  Department  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  of  the  University.  The  combined  schools  are  directed  by  a 


6 


Historical  Sketch 


Council  of  eight  (two  from  St.  John’s  College,  two  from  the  Law  School, 
two  from  the  Medical  School,  and  one  each  from  the  Schools  of  Dentisty 
and  Pharmacy),  of  which  the  Governor  of  Maryland  is,  ex-officio,  the 
Chairman,  with  the  title  of  Chancellor,  the  Honorable  Bernard  Carter 
the  Pro-Chancellor  and  Dr.  Thomas  Fell,  President  of  St.  John’s  College, 
the  Vice-Chancellor. 

By  this  affiliation,  a year  of  the  time  required  to  take  the  academic 
course  and  the  professional  course  in  any  of  the  schools  may  be  saved. 

In  1908  a large  new  Gymnasium  was  erected,  covering  a ground  space 
of  158  feet  by  97  feet.  The  main  gymnasium  room  is  surrounded  by  a 
gallery  containing  a running  track,  and  there  are  bowling  alleys,  a rifle 
range,  reading  room,  trophy  room,  as  well  as  the  various  other  separate 
apartments  for  offices,  etc.,  required  in  such  a building.  Adjoining,  is 
a swimming  pool,  with  a large  shower  bath  and  lavatory  attached;  also 
a large  spare  room. 

In  1909  a severe  misfortune  befell  the  College  in  the  burning  of 
McDowell  Hall,  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  buildings,  both  in  traditional 
association  and  in  intrinsic  worth.  This  building  was  begun  in  1744  as 
a residence  for  a Colonial  Governor,  and  was  presented  by  the  State  for 
educational  purposes  in  1784. 


©tt?  an&  tttoipntg-fiftit 

Amtttipnsarg 

At  a meeting  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  held  on  the 
sixth  of  January,  1909,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Celebration  of  the  One 
Hundredth  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary  of  the  College  should  be  duly 
observed  during  Commencement  Week,  and,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
preparation  of  the  necessary  arrangements,  a Committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  James  A.  Fechtig,  L.  Dorsey  Gassaway  and  Louis  T.  Clark  was 
appointed. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  above  Committee,  other  committees  of 
alumni  were  added,  to  co-operate  in  making  the  Celebration  a success. 
Meetings  were  held  from  time  to  time  in  Baltimore,  at  which  plans 
were  discussed  and  a general  programme  finally  decided  upon. 

GENERAL  COMMITTEES 

THE  BOARD  OF  VISITORS 

James  A.  Fechtig,  Jr.,  ’95  (Chairman) 

L.  Dorsey  Gassaway,  ’81  Louis  T.  Clark,  ’92 

RECEPTION 

B.  Vernon  Cecil,  ’90  John  L.  Chew,  87  James  M.  Munroe,  74 
Hon.  Robert  Moss  Ridgely  P.  Melvin,  ’99 

ALUMNI 

Henry  D.  Harlan,  78  W.  Thomas  Kemp,  ’97  (Sec’y) 

John  T.  Harrison,  ’07 

SPEAKERS 

Philemon  H.  Tuck,  ’72  Walter  I.  Dawkins,  ’80 

L.  B.  Keene  Claggett,  ’95 

INVITATIONS 

Daniel  R.  Randall,  ’83  Frank  H.  Stockett 

A.  W.  Woodccck,  ’03 

OUTDOOR 

E.  B.  Iglehart,  ’94  Nicholas  H.  Green,  ’89 

Richard  H.  Duvall  Evelyn  Harrison,  ’06 


7 


f 


■& 


Jlmrciitttga 

The  first  movement  toward  the  Celebration  was  the  transfer  of  the 
student  battalion  to  the  encampment,  which  was  placed  in  the  Athletic 
Field,  thus  making  room  in  the  buildings  for  the  reception  of  alumni 
and  other  visitors. 


FRIDAY,  JUNE  11 

In  the  evening,  the  Annual  Oratorical  Contest  of  the  Junior  Class 
took  place  in  the  New  Gymnasium.  The  following  was  the  programme: 


1.  1 1 The  Confessional  ” Anon. 

Charles  A.  Mullikin,  Trappe,  Md. 

2.  **  The  Race  Problem  ” Grady 

Webster  S.  Blades,  Choptank,  Md. 

3.  il  William  McKinley  ” Bay 

Thomas  B.  Mudd,  LaPlata,  Md. 

4.  **  Vindication  ” : Emmett 

Leonard  Kolmer,  Lonaconing,  Md. 

5.  11  The  New  South  ” Grady 

Edgar  Hauver,  Myersville,  Md. 


Judges — Professors  C.  W.  Stryker,  A.  W.  Woodcock,  E.  H.  Sirich. 

The  contest  was  won  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Blades,  to  whom  was  awarded  the 
gold  medal  offered  by  President  Fell. 

SATURDAY,  JUNE  12 

The  first  social  event  of  the  Celebration  was  the  dance  given  by  the 
Philomathean  and  Philokalian  Societies  jointly.  The  guests  were  re- 
ceived by  Lieutenant  and  Mrs.  E.  B.  Iglehart,  and  the  music  was 
furnished  by  a string  orchestra  of  the  Naval  Academy  Band. 

SUNDAY,  JUNE  13 

The  Faculty  of  the  College,  the  Graduating  Class,  and  the  whole  body 
of  students  assembled  at  Woodward  Hall  and  marched  from  there  in  a 
body  to  St.  Anne’s  Church,  where  they  were  joined  by  several  members 
of  the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors. 


10 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


The  order  of  the  service  was  as  follows: 

Processional  Hymn,  311 — “ Ancient  of  Days.” 

Morning  Prayer. 

Introit,  Hymn  493. 

Ante  Communion. 

Hymn  before  Sermon,  249. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Ernest  M.  Stires,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Thomas’s 
Church,  New  York  City. 

Anthem — 1 1 Love  Divine  All  Love  Excelling.  ’ ’ 

Processional  Hymn,  510. 

Order  of  Procession:  Choristers,  Graduating  Class  of  St.  John’s  Col- 
lege, Faculty  of  St.  John’s  College,  Visiting  Clergy,  Clergy  of  St.  Anne’s 
Parish,  Rector  of  St.  Anne’s  Parish  and  the  President  of  St.  John’s 
College. 


SERMON  BY  DR.  E.  M.  STIRES 

First  Corinithians  xiv,  8:  “ For  if  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain 
sound,  who  shall  prepare  himself  to  the  battle.” 

Dr.  Stires  said  in  part: 

It  is  a privilege  to  be  here,  and  to  have  been  invited  to  preach  the 
baccalaureate  sermon  to  the  graduates  of  such  an  old,  historic  College 
as  St.  John’s,  one  that  has  sent  forth  great  men,  who  have  served  their 
country  faithfully,  and  have  been  an  inspiration  to  those  who  have  come 
after.  Such  an  inspiration  also  is  the  keeping  of  this  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary,  bringing  to  mind  the  deeds  of  those  who 
have  gone  before,  and  the  call  to  those  who  are  now  making  the  record 
of  the  future. 

There  is  need  today  of  the  revival  of  those  principles  that  have  made 
our  country  great.  As  the  historic  tree  of  St.  John’s  Campus  has  been 
strengthened  and  saved  for  this  generation  and  for  those  to  come,  so,  it 
is  possible  to  save  from  the  ravages  of  materialism  and  radicalism  those 
principles  that  have  done  this  great  work  in  the  past.  St.  Paul  was  a 
man  of  wisdom,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  we  should  have  militant  words 
from  his  lips.  The  trumpet  call  is,  in  itself,  a sentence.  Life  is  a 
tattle , but  it  does  not  mean  that  happiness  and  joy  are  not  to  be  found 
in  life. 

If  the  trumpet  give  uncertain  sounds  it  may  be  for  various  reasons: 
perhaps  the  trumpeter  did  not  hear  the  officer’s  commands,  perhaps  he 
feared  or  had  doubts,  or,  perhaps  his  heart  was  not  in  his  work. 

The  cry  of  the  world  is  for  leadership,  for  manhood.  Young  men  of 
today  lack  enthusiasm,  but  there  are  not  a great  many  men  who  are  sin- 
ning deliberately  against  the  right,  and  the  saddest  tragedy  in  human 
life  is  when  a man  believes  in  God  and  yet  sins  against  him,  against  his 
fellow  men  and  against  himself,  who  does  not  by  word  or  deed  help 
others  to  conform  to  the  Word  of  God.  To  such  we  cannot  but  realize 
that  the  trumpet  gives  an  uncertain  sound.  A military  man  must  have 
the  knowledge  that  it  was  his  officer  who  gave  the  command.  That  is 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


11 


the  power  behind  the  command.  The  world  is  full  of  people  with 
opinions,  but  it  wants  men  of  conviction.  The  greatest  need  of  our  life 
is  the  conviction  of  the  love  of  God.  This  command  we  hear  from  God 
himself  and  we  should  obey  it  certainly  and  enthusiastically.  God  is 
filled  with  unfathomable  mystery;  every  thing  that  God  has  touched  par- 
takes of  this  mystery.  There  cannot  be  those  principles  which  have 
made  our  country  great  and  have  kept  it  great  without  the  belief  in  the 
principles  of  God.  If  you  are  going  to  study  Christianity,  take  years 
to  do  it,  and  go  deeply  into  it  and  you  will  come  back  to  where  you 
started.  Whether  it  is  behind  the  gun,  or  behind  the  sword,  the  man  is 
the  power. 

Have  respect  for  your  faith,  for  yourselves,  for  your  manhood.  Be 
men  of  faith,  men  of  action,  men  of  enthusiasm.  Enthusiasts  are  men 
who  have  let  God  take  possession  of  them.  Persevere,  do  not  quit,  fight 
life’s  battles  like  men.  The  world  needs  manhood  today.  Put  your 
heart’s  blood  into  your  work.  Be  men  of  enthusiasm,  not  spasmodic. 
You  are  going  out  into  the  world  to  be  tried,  and  temptations  will 
overtake  you,  but,  a defeated  soldier  is  not  necessarily  a disloyal  soldier. 
Go  at  it  again.  The  colors  stand  for  principles,  and  men  try  to  keep 
themselves  clean  to  be  worthy  of  the  colors.  God  can  bring  beautiful 
music  out  of  our  lives,  if  we  are  willing  the  Master  Musician  should 
play  upon  His  own  instrument. 

I beg  of  you  to  receive  your  diplomas  not  as  a reward  for  some  dis- 
tinction or  past  effort,  but  as  a commission  for  active  service.  Receive 
them  as  men  of  God,  ready  to  live  up  to  the  high  standard  of  right 
living,  ready  to  battle  in  the  grandest  and  noblest  of  struggles,  and 
may  God  give  you  strength  and  courage  for  the  warfare  here  and  the 
victory  hereafter. 

SERMON  BEFORE  THE  COLLEGE  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

By  Rev.  J.  Morgan  Read,  D.  D. 

In  the  evening  at  8 o’clock  a large  congregation  gathered  in  the 
Second  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  the  College  Service  under  the 
auspices  of  the  College  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association. 

The  sermon  on  the  occasion  was  by  the  Rev.  J.  Morgan  Read,  D.  D., 
President  of  Pennington  Seminary.  He  made  a few  prefatory  remarks 
prior  to  his  sermon,  in  which  he  said  he  had  always  felt  proud  of  St. 
John’s,  where  he  had  been  a student,  and  that  he  was  one  of  the  three 
men  called  upon  by  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  then  President,  to  found  the 
College  Y.  M.  C.  A.  He  took  for  his  text,  Acts  xiii,  36:  “ For  David, 
after  he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  fell  on  sleep 
and  was  laid  unto  his  fathers,  and  saw  corruption.” 

Dr.  Read  said  in  part: 

Life  is  more  serious  than  death.  Death,  which  comes  at  the  end  of 
a well  spent  life,  is  only  entering  the  harbor,  while  life  is  a struggle 
against  the  waves  and  billows.  It  is  not  the  man  who  is  taking  down 
the  sails,  but  the  man  who  is  setting  sails  that  needs  to  think  and 
consider. 


12 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Life  is  more  than  a playground,  it  is  a mission,  in  which  every  one 
must  take  a part.  It  is.  a chain  in  which  each  one  is  a link.  It  is  the 
little  things  that  count  in  life.  The  physician  who  does  not  respond  to 
night  calls  because  he  knows  there  is  not  a dollar  in  it,  will  never  rise 
to  the  top  of  his  profession;  the  student  who  does  not  care  to  study, 
and  is  satisfied  just  to  pull  through  college,  will  never  be  given  the  presi- 
dency of  a college.  The  world  wants  men  who  serve  well.  A man’s 
life  is  measured  by  what  he  does,  not  by  his  gifts,  but  by  the  exercise  of 
his  gifts.  It  is  not  the  bright  boy,  but  the  student,  the  boy  who  works 
while  other  boys  play,  the  boy  who  keeps  everlastingly  at  it,  that  forges 
ahead. 

But,  do  not  be  contented  to  serve  your  generation  without  serving 
God.  A man’s  life  cannot  be  a failure  if  he  serves  God,  and  the  men 
who  have  succeeded  are  the  men  who  have  linked  God  with  their  lives. 
It  should  be  the  great  purpose  of  each  life  so  to  serve  its  generation 
that  at  the  end  God  may  say  “ Come  up  higher.” 

MONDAY,  JUNE  14 

10.00  A.  M. — Senior  Oratorical  Contest. 

A large  number  of  friends  assembled  to  listen  to  this  contest,  and  gave 
closest  attention  to  the  orations  which  were  as  follows: 

1.  “A  Unique  Achievement  ’ ’ 

J.  Alexander  Kendrick,  Bipley,  Md. 

2.  “ The  Retention  of  the  Philippines  ” 

R.  Elmer  Jones,  Lynch’s,  Md. 

3.  1 1 The  Better  Way  ’ ’ 

William  B.  Ennis,  Annapolis,  Md. 

The  Judges  were  Messrs.  R.  P.  Melvin,  II.  J.  Fenton  and  H.  R.  Riley, 
and  they  unanimously  awarded  the  prize  of  $25.00  (offered  annually 
by  the  Alumni  Association)  to  Mr.  William  B.  Ennis,  of  Annapolis. 

This  contest  was  followed  by  a Literary  Address  by  Professor  Hiram 
Corson,  Professor  Emeritus  of  English  Literature  at  Cornell  University, 
and  formerly  Professor  of  English  at  St.  John’s  College. 

12.00  M. — Drill  by  Cadet  Corps. 

3.00  P.  M. — Baseball  Game,  College  versus  Alumni. 

6.00  P.  M. — Dress  Parade. 

8.00  P.  M. — Farewell  Ball,  Class  1910  to  Class  1909.  President  Fell 
and  Mrs.  Fell  acted  as  hosts,  representing  the  Class.  The  gathering 
was  one  of  unusual  brilliance,  and  was  much  enjoyed  by  those  taking 
part  in  it. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


13 


TUESDAY,  JUNE  15 

10.30  A.  M. — Class  Day  Exercises. 

Programme 

(Music  by  College  Orchestra.) 

Procession  of  Class  to  Stage. 

Calling  of  Meeting  to  Order  by  the  President. 

Calling  of  Poll  by  Secretary. 

Reading  of  Minutes  of  Preceding  Meeting. 

Class  Business. 

Salutatory C.  L.  Weaver. 

Unveiling  of  Class  Shield. 

Class  History J.  A.  Kendrick. 

Presentations C.  T.  Johnson. 

Class  Prophecy R.  E.  Jones. 

Presentations  of  Mock  Diplomas. 

Class  Will W.  B.  Ennis. 

Valedictory. 

Auld  Lang  Syne. 

(Sung  by  Class.) 

Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot 
And  never  brought  to  mind? 

Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot 
And  days  of  Auld  Lang  Syne? 

Chorus. 

And  here’s  a hand  my  trusty  frien’ 

And  gie’s  a hand  of  thine: 

We’ll  take  a cup  of  kindness  yet 
For  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

Chorus. 

Sfiiiraltnu 

Nrw  (gymnasium  rnih  iftainriral  Mating 
Cmnmmnratitir  of  lljr  Annturraarg 

At  3.00  P.  M.,  there  was  a large  gathering  for  the  Dedication  of  the 
New  Gymnasium,  and  a Historical  Meeting,  commemorative  of  the 
Anniversary.  The  procession  of  Delegates  and  Representatives  formed 
at  the  College  Library  and  marched  in  a body  to  the  Gymnasium,  where 
the  following  addresses  were  delivered: 


14 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COLLEGE 
By  George  Forbes,  Class  1892. 

The  Secretary  of  State , Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  my  privilege  this  afternoon,  to  conduct  you  along  the  avenues 
of  the  past,  so  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the  parent  school  of  old 
St.  John’s,  to  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century;  to  be  specific, 
to  the  year  1696.  Some  months  ago  it  gave  me  pleasure  to  deliver  an 
illustrated  lecture  before  my  fellow  Annapolitans  under  the  auspices  of 
this  College,  on  “ Annapolis  in  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Days,”  and 
as  I consumed  some  two  and  a half  hours  on  that  occasion,  to  which 
Dr.  Fell  was  witness,  I fear  he  concluded  that,  in  one  respect  at  least, 
I resembled  the  railroads  which  enter  Chicago,  viz : that  I lacked 
terminal  facilities;  for  on  this  occasion  he  has  had  your  interest  enough 
at  heart  to  inform  me  that  the  two  hundred  and  thirteen  years  of  which 
I am  to  speak  must  be  covered  in  twenty  minutes. 

As  a tree  is  known  by  its  fruit,  so  an  institution  of  learning  is  known 
by  the  men  it  produces,  and  the  buildings  which  it  erects  and  equips. 
The  former  are  necessarily  more  transitory  monuments,  while  the  latter 
may  remain  almost  indefinitely  as  material  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of 
its  rulers.  To  these  more  enduring  monuments  now  let  us  turn. 

Referring  to  Bacon’s  Laws  of  Maryland,  I find  that  the  earlier  insti- 
tution was  indexed  under  the  undignified  appellation  of  “ K.  William’s 
School.  ’ ’ While  we  cannot  approve  of  this  unique  abbreviation  we  see 
further  evidence  of  this  ancient  custom  within  the  borders  of  the  city, 
for  on  the  corner  stone  of  the  Naval  Academy,  now  set  into  the  Academic 
Building,  we  read:  11  Founded  during  the  administration  of  James  K. 
Polk,  President  of  the  U.  States.”  King  William’s  School  has,  how- 
ever, other  reasons  than  the  one  just  recited  for  being  unique,  for  it  was 
the  first  public  school  on  the  American  continent,  was  under  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  King,  and  the  Primate  and  Metropolitan  of  all  England, 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  its  Chancellor. 

True  that  Harvard,  founded  in  1636,  was  the  first  school;  that  Wil- 
liam & Mary  at  Williamsburg,  Va.,  founded  in  1693,  was  the  second; 
and  that  King  William’s,  founded  in  1696,  was  the  third;  nevertheless, 
King  William’s  was  the  first  free  public  school. 

The  Act  of  1696,  Chapter  17,  fathered  by  Governor  Nicholson,  which 
gave  life  to  this  institution,  was,  surprising  as  it  may  seem  from  its 
early  date,  a most  comprehensive  plan  for  a free  school  system  through- 
out the  State  of  Maryland,  contemplating  as  it  did  the  ultimate  estab- 
lishment of  a free  school  in  each  of  the  counties  of  the  State,  btu  making 
provision  at  the  time  for  only  one — the  ‘ 1 Free  School  at  Severn,  ’ ’ which 
the  Act  specially  provided  should  be  named  after  William  III,  the  then 
reigning  sovereign  of  England,  and  be  known  as  “ King  William’s 
School.” 

I have  said  that  Harvard,  founded  in  1636,  was  the  first  school,  but 
I am  informed  by  President  Tyler,  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary, 
that  there  was  a College  started  in  Virginia  as  early  as  1619,  but  burned 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


15 


by  the  Indians,  which  facts  I have  been  unable  further  to  verify,  but 
hope  eventually  to  do  so,  for  verification  would  prove  that  the  first  insti- 
tution of  learning  of  any  kind  in  America  was  in  our  sister  State  of 
Virginia,  a fact  naturally  gratifying  to  all  Southerners. 

In  the  limited  time  at  my  command,  it  will  be  possible  to  do  little 
more  than  briefly  sketch  the  turning  points  in  the  history  of  King  Wil- 
liam’s School  and  St.  John’s  College,  its  successor  by  legislative  act. 

Governor  Nicholson  is  the  man  to  whom  Annapolis  is  primarily  in- 
debted for  its  beginnings  as  a conspicuous  colonial  community.  It  was 
he  who  laid  out  the  city,  started  the  first  State  House,  the  first  church 
(St.  Anne’s)  and  the  free  school.  He  gave  the  land  on  which  the  school 
stood  (the  site  being  now  approximately  marked  by  the  DeKalb  Statue 
on  State  House  Hill),  and  made  other  donations  toward  the  school’s 
support.  Annapolis  became  the  Capital  in  1694  when  he  was  governor, 
and  although  he  filled  the  office  but  four  years,  his  accomplishments 
were  numerous.  The  first  session  of  the  State  Legislature  at  Annapolis, 
over  which  he  presided,  passed  an  Act  for  the  advancement  of  learning; 
which,  however,  is  not  extant. 

Reference  to  the  Act  of  1715,  chapter  4,  discloses  interesting  facts,  to 
my  knowledge,  not  heretofore  referred  to.  From  this  Act  it  appears 
that  Governor  Nicholson  conveyed  to  the  free  school  “ certain  lots  of 
land  in  the  city  of  Annapolis,  and  an  house  thereon  erected,  commonly 
called  the  ‘ Kentish  House,’  which  lot  is  stated  to  be  ‘ one  of  three 
lots  of  land  in  the  said  town,  lying  to  the  southwest  of  the  said  lots.  ’ ’ ’ 
With  this  information  and  Stoddert’s  map  as  a guide,  and  noting  that 
Francis  Street  (evidently  named  for  Governor  Francis  Nicholson  by 
reason  of  the  location  of  his  lands  thereon)  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
Stadt-House  Hill,  and  runs  from  that  point  to  its  intersecting  point  with 
Church  Street,  we  can  readily  locate  the  house  referred  to.  On  Stod- 
dert’s map  of  Annapolis  of  1718,  that  being  three  years  after  this  Act 
of  Assembly,  a strip  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  Francis  Street,  from 
the  Circle  to  Main  Street,  is  marked  ‘ ‘ Free  School  land.  ’ ’ The  inter- 
vening land  between  it  and  East  Street  is  marked  “ Ground  formerly 
surveyed  for  Governor  Nicholson,  claimed  and  in  possession  of  Mr. 
Bordley.  ’ ’ Assuming,  therefore,  that  in  1694  Governor  Nicholson  owned 
(as  from  the  statute  it  appears  he  did,  certainly  prior  to  1715)  the 
entire  tract  between  the  Circle,  East  Street  and  Francis  Street,  down 
so  far  as  the  intersecting  line  with  Church  Street,  the  11  southwest  side 
of  the  said  three  lots  ” would  indicate  that  the  property  now  occupied 
by  Dr.  J.  Roland  Walton  was  a part  thereof.  The  Act  of  1715  also 
states  that  Governor  Nicholson  gave  the  sum  of  ten  pounds  sterling  for 
and  towards  a house  to  be  built  thereon,  and  that  he  prevailed  with  a 
certain  Anthony,  alias  William  Workman,  formerly  of  Kent  Island,  but 
then  of  Annapolis,  Inn-holder,  to  give  150  lbs.  sterling  more  towards 
the  building  of  the  said  house  on  the  aforesaid  lot,  and  that  he,  together 
with  Workman  and  a certain  William  Freeman,  of  Philadelphia,  a brick- 
layer, contracted  for  the  building  of  the  said  house,  which  was  to  be 


16 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


held  and  occupied  by  the  said  Workman  during  his  natural  life,  and 
afterwards  to  remain  over  to  the  use  of  the  free  schools.  The  Act 
further  states  that  the  said  house  was  erected  on  the  lot  aforesaid,  and 
that  Anthony  Workman,  in  consideration  of  the  money  he  advanced  was, 
by  ‘ ‘ Ordinance  of  the  General  Assembly,  ’ ’ given  leave  to  keep  an 
Ordinary  in  said  house  during  his  natural  life,  without  the  usual  fine 
imposed  by  law  therefor.  Now  as  the  “ Kentish  House  ” was  to  be 
built  of  brick,  and  the  home  of  Dr.  Walton  is  of  brick,  and  has  always 
been  thought  to  be  a colonial  inn,  and  as  its  construction  would  indicate 
such  an  occupancy;  and  further  as  it  is  the  only  colonial  house  on  the 
lots  described,  other  than  one  reputed  to  have  been  occupied  by  Governor 
Nicholson,  which  was  of  frame,  every  indication  would  point  to  the 
fact  that  the  present  residence  of  Dr.  Walton  was  the  il  Kentish  House  ” 
of  colonial  days. 

The  Act  also  makes  it  clear  that  this  was  the  property  of  the  free 
schools  in  Annapolis.  This  enabling  Act  was  occasioned  by  the  loss  of 
the  deeds  prior  to  their  being  recorded,  which  loss  in  the  course  of 
years,  has  proved  most  fortunate,  as  it  enables  us  to  definitely  trace  the 
interesting  history  of  this  old  tavern.  Its  date,  too,  is  most  accurately 
fixed,  as  Governor  Nicholson  resided  in  Annapolis  and  was  Governor  of 
the  State  from  July,  1694,  until  Governor  Blakistone  was  commissioned 
in  October,  1698,  and  as  he  gave  the  land  in  1696,  and  recalling  his 
energy  in  promoting  other  buildings,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  this 
building  was  completed  before  he  left  in  1698,  thereby  making  it  one 
of  the  oldest  house  of  authentic  history  in  the  city  of  Annapolis,  and 
placing  it  in  chronological  order  with  the  old  Treasury  Building  or 
Council  House,  the  Dorsey  House  and  the  Sands  House. 

The  free  school  building  was  started  about  1696,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  ready  for  use  until  1701.  The  declared  purpose  of 
the  school  was  to  educate  the  youth  of  the  colony  in  good  letters,  and 
manners,  and  to  provide  11  a perpetual  succession  of  Protestant  Divines 
of  the  Church  of  England  for  the  propogation  of  the  true  Christian 
religion  in  the  said  colonies.”  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  at  this 
time,  being  under  the  patronage  of  a Protestant  King,  with  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  as  its  chancellor,  and  in  an  English  colony,  in 
which  the  Protestants  were  in  power,  that  the  Church  of  England  exer- 
cised a controlling  influence  over  the  school.  The  further  influence  of 
the  Church  is  shown  in  its  requirements  that  the  school  masters  were 
required  to  be  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  of  “ pure  and 
exemplary  lives  and  conversation,”  and  ‘ ‘ capable  of  teaching  well, 
grammar,  good  writing  and  mathematics,”  but  that  they  did  not  always 
live  up  to  this  standard  is  shown  by  a quotation  from  a letter  of 
Governor  Nicholson  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  which  he  says : ‘ 1 There  is 
often  very  great  want,  and  now  especially,  of  good  clergymen  and 
school  masters  for  these  parts  of  the  world;  and  I will  not  venture  to 
answer  for  some  of  their  abilities,  lives  and  conversations.” 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


17 


In  passing  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  the  funds  for  the  school 
were  raised  in  part  by  a poll  tax,  a tax  on  tobacco,  and  a tax  on  negroes 
imported  into  the  Province.  This  scheme  of  taxation  for  the  school 
support  was  followed  in  the  charter  of  St.  John’s  College,  where  taxes 
on  almost  every  conceivable  thing,  including  a tax  on  marriage  licenses, 
were  levied  for  the  school’s  maintenance.  In  view  of  the  recent  ruling 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that  midshipmen  must  not  marry  for  two 
years  after  leaving  the  Academy,  may  we  not  now  inquire  if  this  was 
the  ancient  method  of  preventing  graduates  of  St.  John’s  from  too  early 
succumbing  to  the  wiles  of  Cupid. 

King  William ’s  School  was  a grammar  school,  designed  as  the 
Governor  stated,  il  to  prepare  both  English  and  Indian  boys  for  his 
Majesty’s  Eoyal  College  of  William  and  Mary  in  Virginia.” 

Facts  heretofore  unknown  to  me,  and  I believe  not  of  common  knowl- 
edge, are  that  when  the  State  House  was  burned  in  1704,  the  Provincial 
and  county  records  were  lodged  in  the  free  school,  and  the  Commissary 
Eecords  on  the  back  porch  thereof,  Avhich  was  “ to  be  made  tight  and 
shelves  put  up  there  for  the  books,”  and  that  the  Provincial  and  County 
Courts  sat  in  the  school  building  for  a time,  as  also  the  Council,  prior 
to  the  fire,  apparently  before  it  was  quite  finished,  or  at  least  before  it 
was  occupied  for  a school. 

From  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  Independence,  the  official  con- 
nection between  the  Church  and  the  school  ceased,  and  it  will  ever  be 
to  the  credit  of  Episcopalians,  who  were  then  in  control  of  the  State 
Government  that,  of  their  own  volition,  they  repealed  their  own  Legis- 
lative Act  of  1692,  which  made  the  Church  of  England  the  established 
Church  in  England,  and  thus  put  on  record  their  disapproval  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State,  as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  republican 
government.  Shortly  after  this  (in  1784)  the  same  Legislature  chartered 
St.  John’s  College,  and  provided  that  it  should  have  no  religious  test, 
and  was  to  be  officered  by  men  to  be  chosen  irrespective  of  their  re- 
ligious professions  or  beliefs.  In  confirmation  of  this  action,  they  ap- 
pointed Eev.  Dr.  Smith,  then  Bishop-elect  of  Maryland,  an  Episcopalian; 
Archbishop  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  a Eoman  Catholic,  and  the  Eev.  Dr. 
Patrick  Allison,  a leading  Presbyterian  Divine  of  the  State,  with  cer- 
tain laymen  of  each  faith,  as  soliciting  agents  for  subscriptions  to  the 
College,  as  also  for  Washington  College  at  Chestertown,  which,  with 
St.  John’s,  the  Act  contemplated  was  to  form  the  University  of  Mary- 
land. The  formal  opening  of  St.  John’s  took  place  in  1789  with  great 
pomp  and  ceremony. 

And  now  to  a more  practical  question,  the  all  absorbing  quesiton  in 
America  today — the  question  of  dollars  and  cents.  It  will  doubtless 
astound  my  auditors  to  hear  that,  morally,  and  we  think  legally,  though 
it  is  now  too  late  to  adjudicate  that  question,  the  State  of  Maryland 
owes  St.  John’s  College  over  five  millions  of  dollars,  and  this  makes 
allowance  for  all  credits  on  the  original  claim;  but  of  course  the  interest 
is  compounded;  at  simple  interest,  however,  the  claim  is  over  two  and  a 


18 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


quarter  millions  of  dollars.  Those  of  you  unfamiliar  with  our  claim 
will  doubtless  be  surprised  at  this  statement,  which  my  limited  time  does 
not  permit  me  to  present  in  detail,  but  the  proof  of  it  can  readily  be 
found  in  legislative  Acts  in  the  College  literature  and  in  logarithm 
tables.  I may  say,  however,  at  the  outset,  the  Legislature  granted 
$8,750  a year,  with  a view  of  providing  “ a permanent  fund  ” which 
was  pledged  “ annually  and  forever  hereafter  as  a donation  by  the 
public  to  the  use  of  the  College.  ’ ’ In  1806  this  so-called  ‘ ‘ permanent 
fund  ” was  withdrawn,  and  the  College  had  to  suspend,  though  never 
relinquishing  its  charter  rights.  From  time  to  time,  through  the  course 
of  years,  until  the  present,  small  sums  have  been  given  by  the  Legislature, 
other  sums  have  been  raised  by  private  and  public  subscriptions,  and 
thus  the  College  has  spasmodically  been  enabled  to  exist.  In  1859,  when 
the  Board  obtained  permission  to  submit  its  claim  of  a violation  of 
the  charter  provisions  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Maryland,  the  Court 
decided  every  point  in  favor  of  the  College.  There  was  a release,  how- 
ever, given  by  the  Board  to  the  State  in  1833,  in  consideration  of  the 
State’s  paying  a small  sum  over  to  the  College,  and  this  release  stand- 
ing in  the  way,  the  question  of  its  binding  force  was  submitted  to  lead- 
ing jurists  for  their  opinion,  who  thought  that  the  Board’s  act  was  ultra 
vires , and  steps  were  taken  to  carry  the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  The  Maryland  Legislature  then  restored  certain 
arrearages  and  voted  a small  sum  in  addition,  which  the  College  Visitors, 
taking  as  a recognition  of  their  rights,  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature,, 
accepted,  and  relinquished  the  suit.  Subsequently  the  Legislature  with- 
drew its  appropriation,  and  as  the  right  of  appeal  had  then  expired  by 
limitation,  the  College  has  been  materially  handicapped  ever  since.  It 
should  be  said  at  this  point  that  the  appropriations  of  the  Legislature 
since  then,  have  been  so  small  and  spasmodically  made  that  no  certain 
salary  could  be  expected  by  its  professors,  and  as  a consequence  it  be- 
came an  undesirable  institution  with  which  to  be  connected.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  its  career  has  been  a checkered  one,  and  manifestly  the  re- 
sponsibility is  primarily  that  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  which  withdrew 
its  paternal  support  when  its  child  was  yet  in  swaddling  clothes,  being 
then  but  seventeen  years  of  age. 

The  Governor  is  of  course  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  State,  and  as 
such  its  right  hand.  I regret  that  the  Governor  of  Maryland  is  not  here 
today  to  learn  of  his  gubernatorial  great-grandfather’s  treatment  of  the 
child  that  great-grandfather  begot.  I am  pleased  to  note,  however,  that 
his  accomplished  Secretary  of  State  is  with  us  (for  he  is  a conspicuous 
and  distinguished  branch  of  the  State’s  family  tree),  so  that  he  may 
convey  to  his  Excellency  the  call  of  this  child  for  succor,  its  plea  for 
justice,  which  it  has  an  especial  reason  now  to  claim  and  expect  at  the 
hands  of  a Governor  who  has  so  recently  doffed  the  ermine — to  the  end 
that  McDowell  Hall  may  thus  be  enabled  to  rise  from  its  ashes. 

As  before  observed,  St.  John’s  for  years  had  a most  precarious 
existence,  and  until  the  installation  of  our  present  President,  Dr.  Fell, 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


19 


at  whose  coining  in  1886,  there  were  but  sixty  students  in  attendance, 
and  the  buildings  were  in  a somewhat  dilapidated  condition.  In  two 
years  he  doubled  the  number  of  students,  renovated  the  halls,  and 
equipped  them  with  every  modern  convenience,  including  steam  heat, 
hot  and  cold  water,  and  an  abundance  of  bath-rooms,  with  every  other 
appliance  for  comfort  and  culture. 

My  subject  dealing  with  the  past,  and  the  line  of  demarkation  between 
the  past  and  the  present  being  indeterminate,  I take  it  I am  privileged 
to  refer  to  the  College  as  many  of  us  would  view  it  in  the  present,  but 
which  technically  is  of  the  past.  We  note  with  gratification  that  in  very 
recent  years,  under  the  same  admirable  administration,  its  progress  has 
been  especially  rapid,  however  financially  handicapped,  having  added 
Woodward,  and  Senior  Hall,  and  a gymnasium  to  its  group  of  buildings, 
the  latter  the  building  we  now  occupy,  and  which  our  powers  of  observa- 
tion enable  us  to  see  is  one  of  the  most  complete  and  satisfactory 
structures  of  its  kind,  artistically  and  practically,  which  the  country 
affords,  and  a worthy  monument  to  the  energy  and  skill  of  its  promoters 
and  designers.  The  military  bearing  of  the  corps  of  cadets  would  do 
credit  to  West  Point,  and  does  credit  to  St.  John’s  military  instructor, 
Lieutenant  Iglehart.  Indeed,  the  whole  conduct  and  management  of  the 
College  today  is  deserving  of  the  greatest  praise  to  Dr.  Fell  and  the 
other  earnest,  zealous  and  capable  members  of  the  faculty. 

Of  the  earlier  fruit  of  this  tree  we  are  shortly  to  be  told  by  Mr.  De- 
vecmon,  and  of  its  promise  for  the  future  by  Mr.  Noble,  both  sons  of 
St.  John’s,  and  distinguished  at  the  Bar,  one  in  Maryland  and  the  other 
in  New  York.  But  before  I leave  my  subject,  a word  or  two  as  to  the 
history  of  the  one  venerable  building  on  the  College  campus,  so  recently 
destroyed,  in  part,  by  fire. 

In  1744  McDowell  Hall  was  projected  by  Governor  Thomas  Bladen, 
as  a noble  mansion  for  the  residence  of  the  Governor  of  Maryland. 
Materials  were  provided,  and  workmen  busy;  indeed,  the  edifice  almost 
completed  in  a style  of  superior  elegance,  when  a disagreement  between 
the  Governor  and  the  Legislature  caused  the  work  to  stop  and  remain  for 
a long  time  a melancholy  and  mouldering  monument  of  the  consequences 
of  political  dissension.  By  reason  of  this  disagreement,  it  received  the 
cognomen  of  ‘ ‘ The  Governor ’s  Folly.  ’ ’ Thanks  to  the  action  of  our 
Governors,  in  directing  a resolution,  we  can  say  to  our  visitors  today, 
that  the  derisive  designation  of  ‘ 1 The  Governor’s  Folly  ” is  no  longer 
applicable. 

It  was  a building  of  so  much  importance  that  Mr.  Duff,  a Scotch 
architect,  came  from  abroad  to  superintend  its  construction.  Para- 
phrasing a line  of  his  fellow  countryman,  in  the  broad  sense,  and 
desirous  of  replacing  each  old  brick,  may  we  not  now  say  in  friendly 
spirit,  to  those  who  would  have  thrown  a pearl  away  richer  than  all 
our  tribe: 

‘ 1 Lay  on  Macduff,  and  damned  be  him  that  first  cries,  Hold,  enough ! ’ 7 


20 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Mr.  Ridgley,  referring  to  the  abandoned  McDowell  Hall,  in  his  Annals 
of  Annapolis,  says:  ” The  depredations  of  time  have  greatly  injured 
the  interior  of  the  building;  which  in  an  unfinished  state  continued  for 
many  years  exposed  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  But  the  Legis- 
lature, actuated  by  sentiments  which  reflect  the  highest  credit  on  their 
patriotism  and  wisdom,  resolved  to  repair  the  damages  sustained  and  to 
apply  the  building  to  the  purposes  of  education;  a precedent  many  of 
us  were  gratified  to  note,  our  Board  considered  worthy  of  emulation. 
McDowell  Hall,  most  of  us  know,  is  a four-story  structure,  including  the1 
basement,  but  how  many  of  us  have  observed,  that  it  is  the  only  colonial 
house  remaining  in  Annapolis  with  quoined  corners,  and  a moat  effect 
about  it.” 

What  a splendid  history  it  has  had!  Note  these  epoch-making  events: 

1.  Started  about  1745  as  a residence  for  Maryland’s  Colonial 
Governors. 

2.  Completed  in  1789  as  St.  John’s  College,  and  in  that  year  formally 
opened  in  the  Chapel  Room  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of  the 
General  Assembly,  the  Chancellor,  the  Judges  of  the  General  Court, 
city  officials,  leading  citizens  of  Annapolis,  students  and  faculty,  with 
the  Governors  and  Visitors  of  the  old  King  William’s  School  and  the 
new  St.  John’s  College.  There  were  also  present  on  this  occasion,  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop-elect  of  Maryland;  Archbishop  Carroll,  of 
Baltimore,  a Roman  Catholic;  Dr.  Patrick  Allison,  a leading  Presbyterian 
divine  of  the  State;  Bishop  Claggett,  of  Maryland,  the  rector  of  St. 
Anne’s,  and  many  other  distinguished  visitors. 

3.  In  1791,  General  Washington,  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
visited  the  College  and  was  entertained  in  this  Hall,  as  indeed  he  had 
been  prior  to  that  time. 

4.  In  1824,  General  Lafayette  was  entertained  in  the  Hall  on  the 
occasion  of  his  visit  to  America,  and  the  day  after,  it  is  recorded,  there 
was  a review  of  the  military  of  the  United  States  from  Fort  Severn, 
and  the  Maryland  volunteers  on  the  College  campus;  and  afterwards  a 
contest  in  rifle  shooting,  the  prize  being  presented  by  General  Lafayette 
to  the  company  of  Captain  Louis  Neth,  who  now,  by  the  way,  lies 
beneath  the  sod  at  11  Primrose  Hill,”  in  our  suburbs,  and  on  his  tomb- 
stone is  cut  this  pathetic  epitaph:  “ Louis  Neth — the  last  of  his  name.” 
It  makes  one  shiver  to  think  howr  near  we  came  to  writing  the  epitaph, 
(i  McDowell  Hall — the  last  of  old  St.  John’s.” 

5.  Again,  in  the  same  Hall,  General  Lafayette  was  entertained  by 
the  Maryland  Legislature,  the  previous  banquet  having  been  given  by 
the  citizens. 

6.  Used  as  a ball-room  often  in  Colonial  Days,  and  it  has  therefore 
been  graced  by  the  wit  and  beauty  of  a period  when  Annapolis  was 
famed  the  world  over  for  the  beauty  of  its  women.  It  seems  almost 
superfluous  for  me  to  add  that  Annapolis  has  always  maintained  its 
reputation  in  this  regard. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


21 


7.  From  1861  to  1865  it  was  occupied  by  the  United  States  au- 
thorities as  a military  hospital. 

8.  And  lastly,  from  1789,  and  the  days  of  Francis  Scott  Key,  to 
1909,  it  has  witnessed  the  graduation  of  every  class  which  has  gone 
forth  from  this  College,  and  this  Chapel  Room  still  stands  in  great  part, 
as  if  edifying  the  hand  of  calamity. 

How  applicable  today,  are  the  lines  of  the  poem  written  by  the  rector 
of  St.  Anne’s  in  1771,  and  addressed  to  the  inhabitants  of  Annapolis, 
in  what  proved  to  be  a successful  plea,  for  his  church: 

“ With  grief  in  yonder  field  hard  by 
A sister-ruin  I espy; 

Old  Bladen’s  Palace,  once  so  famed, 

And  now  too  well  ‘ the  folly  ’ named, 

Her  roof  all  tottering  to  decay, 

Her  walls  a-mouldering  all  away; 


Though  now  forever  gone  and  lost, 

I blush  to  say  how  little  cost, 

The  handsome  pile  would  have  preserved 
Till  some  new  prefect  had  deserved.” 

These  last  four  lines  indicate  that  the  roofless  building,  to  which 
similar  state  it  has  now  been  reduced  by  fire,  was  thought  to  have  been 
li  forever  gone  and  lost.”  When  it  is  considered  that  it  stood,  without 
cover,  subject  to  the  fury  of  the  elements  for  nearly  half  a century,  and 
that  despite  the  fury  of  the  recent  flames,  six-  or  seven-eighths  of  its 
walls  have  refused  in  each  instance,  to  succumb,  we  agree  with  the 
Visitors  and  Governors  of  the  College  that  its  noble  defense  against 
the  fire  and  the  storm  entitles  it  to  preservation,  and  we  sincerely  hope 
that  its  architectural  character  will  be  preserved  without  addition  or 
alteration,  to  the  exterior  and  the  Chapel  in  any  event.  Had  the 
Board’s  action  in  determining  to  restore  been  contrary  we,  too,  might 
have 

11  . . . Blushed  to  say  how  little  cost 

The  handsome  pile  would  have  preserved 
Till  some  new  prefect  had  deserved.” 

The  poem’s  applicability  continues,  when  we  read: 

“ The  premises  considered  I 
With  humble  confidence  rely, 

Till  phoenix-like  I soon  shall  rise 
From  my  own  ashes  to  the  skies.” 

By  way  of  finale,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  quote  the  language  of  our 
immortal  Key,  in  appealing  to  the  Legislature  in  behalf  of  St.  John’s, 
when  in  reference  to  McDowell  Hall,  he  said: 

1 1 Thirty  years  ago  I stood  within  that  Hall,  with  the  companions  and 
the  guides  of  my  youth,  and  bade  farewell  to  them,  to  our  reverend 
instructors,  and  received  the  parting  benediction  of  that  beloved  and 


22 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


venerated  man,  who  ruled  the  institution  he  had  reared  and  adorned, 
not  more  by  the  force  of  authority  than  of  affection.  In  a few  short 
years  I returned,  and  the  companions  and  guides  of  my  youth  were 
gone.  The  glory  of  the  Temple  of  Science,  which  the  wisdom  and  the 
piety  of  our  fathers  had  founded  was  departed.  I beheld  in  its  place 
a dreary  ruin.  I wandered  over  that  beautiful  and  silent  green,  no 
longer  sacred  to  the  meditations  of  the  enraptured  student,  or  vocal 
with  the  joyous  shouts  of  youthful  merriment.  I sat  down  on  those 
mouldering  steps  and  beneath  the  shadow  of  that  aged  tree  that  like 
me  seemed  to  lament  its  lost  companions,  and  I mourned  over  the  mad- 
ness that  had  wrought  this  desolation.” 

But  thanks  to  those  who  have  combined  their  love  for  the  historic 
with  a keen  appreciation  of  what  McDowell  Hall  has  meant  to  the 
College  in  the  past  and  will  mean  in  the  future,  we  can  now  convert 
the  mourning  of  the  author  of  our  National  Anthem  into  paeans  of 
joy  and  of  praise.  Verily 


11  There  is  given 

Unto  the  things  of  earth  which  time  hath  bent, 

A spirit’s  feeling;  and  where  he  hath  lent 
His  hand,  but  broke  his  scythe,  there  is  a power 
And  magic  in  the  ruined  battlement; 

For  which  the  palace  of  the  present  hour 

Must  yield  its  pomp,  and  wait  till  ages  are  its  dower.  ’ ’ 


THE  ALUMNI  OF  ST.  JOHN’S  COLLEGE. 

By  William  C.  Devecmon,  Class  1881. 

My  Fellow  Alumni,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  a time-worn  saying  that  man  is  naturally  a religious  animal. 
Of  all  the  multitudinous  forms  of  religion  that  have  in  different  ages 
obtained  among  the  various  races  of  men,  one  of  the  most  universal  has 
been  that  of  ancestor  worship.  The  injunction  to  honor  thy  father  and 
thy  mother,  and  thy  father’s  father  and  mother’s  mother  to  the  re- 
motest generation,  has,  independent  of  the  divine  sanction,  always  been 
recognized  as  a duty  among  the  races  of  mankind;  and,  where  men 
have  not  made  gods  of  the  progenitors  of  their  family  or  race,  they 
have  deified  the  founders  of  ethical  cults.  Such  has  been  the  origin  of 
nearly  all  religions.  To  honor  their  spiritual  as  well  as  their  physical 
forebears  may  properly,  in  the  light  of  history,  be  considered  as  a duty 
resting  upon  all  mankind.  Happy  that  family,  happy  that  race,  happy 
that  religious  or  ethical  cult  whose  progenitors  were  such  as  to  merit 
the  love  and  veneration  of  succeeding  generations! 

We  are  assembled  here  to  render  our  tribute  of  homage  to  this  vener- 
able mother,  this  first  great  progenitor  of  education  in  the  State  of 
Maryland,  and  to  her  illustrious  offspring  who  have  gone  before  us. 
In  point  of  time  I believe  there  were  two  colleges  established  on  this 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


23 


continent  before  St.  John’s,  but  by  their  charters,  or  by  the  terms  and 
limitations  of  their  foundation,  the  scope  of  their  usefulness  was  limited 
either  by  religious  or  financial  or  other  restrictions.  On  the  other  hand, 
education  at  King  William’s  School,  which  was  the  old  name  for  St. 
John ’s  College,  was  free — free  from  religious  restrictions,  free  from 
financial  obligations,  the  first  free  public  school  upon  the  western 
hemisphere.  It  can  with  justice  claim  to  be  the  mother  of  the  public 
free  school  system  of  all  the  States  of  this  Union.  All  hail  to  this 
venerable  institution!  All  hail  to  its  illustrious  founders!  All  hail  to 
the  brilliant  sons  of  St.  John’s  who  have  proven  not  unworthy  of  their 
glorious  ancestry! 

Upon  its  reorganization  under  the  name  of  St.  John’s  College,  the 
first  class  was  graduated  in  1793;  and,  during  the  thirteen  years  that 
elapsed  until  1806,  when,  on  account  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Legis- 
lative appropriation,  the  functions  of  the  College  were  suspended,  a 
historian  of  the  College  has  stated  that  among  the  sons  of  St.  John’s 
were  11  four  Governors  of  Maryland,  one  United  States  Senator,  five 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  four  Judges  of  the  Courts, 
one  Attorney-General,  one  United  States  District  Attorney,  six  State 
Senators,  fifteen  Representatives,  besides  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy, 
leading  lawyers,  divines,  and  men  of  note  in  other  walks  of  life.”  The 
lack  of  an  endowment  or  other  permanent  source  of  sure  income  has 
always  been  the  only  limitation  upon  St.  John’s  scope  of  influence;  but 
within  the  boundaries  which  were  apparently  fixed  by  her  founders  she 
has  worthily  fulfilled  their  fondest  expectations.  It  was  declared  that 
King  William ’s  School  was  founded  ‘ 1 for  the  propogation  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  Province  in  good  letters 
and  manners.”  At  least  this  is  the  language  of  the  Act  of  1696,  a 
re-enactment  of  the  Act  of  1694,  which  I believe  is  no  longer  extant; 
and  in  the  charter  of  St.  John’s  College,  granted  in  1784,  that  institu- 
tion is  said  to  be  established  “ for  the  liberal  education  of  youth  in 
the  principles  of  virtue,  knowledge,  and  useful  literature.”  At  that 
time  a liberal  education  was  not  supposed  to  occupy  itself  with  the 
material  aspects  of  life;  its  aim  was  to  give  the  student  culture  rather 
than  knowledge,  to  train  him  to  be  a gentleman  rather  than  a man  of 
affairs.  During  the  present  generation  this  view  has  changed,  and  the 
chief  aim  of  the  college  education  today  is  supposed  to  be  to  endow 
the  student  with  that  mental  equipment  which  will  best  qualify  him  for 
a struggle  m life  to  amass  property  and  wealth.  Then,  the  refinements 
of  polite  intercourse  were  more  highly  thought  of;  today,  the  master 
minds  of  the  world  are  occupied  with  stupendous  problems  of  produc- 
tion and  transportation.  It  is  but  natural  that  systems  of  education 
should  change  to  conform  with  current  ideas  of  usefulness  to  society. 
St.  John’s  College,  on  account  of  the  lack  of  money,  has  always  been 
ill  equipped  to  compete  with  the  great  colleges  of  the  North  in  giving 
her  students  a thorough  knowledge  of  chemistry,  electricity,  and 
mechanics,  Titanic  weapons  in  the  hands  of  man  today  with  which  he 


24 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


moves  or  tunnels  mountains,  spans  oceans  and  continents,  conquers  the 
air,  and  annihilates  space.  But  after  all,  the  greatest  among  the  modern 
captains  of  commerce,  production,  transportation,  and  invention  have 
not  received  their  education  in  the  colleges,  and  I am  inclined  to  think 
that  a preliminary  training  in  culture  and  morals  would  not  have  de- 
tracted from  their  chances  of  success  in  their  warfare  to  subdue  the 
elements  and  agencies  of  nature;  and,  though  it  may  be  admitted  that 
it  is  highly  advantageous  in  this  material  age  for  the  young  man  to 
have  a commercial  or  scientific  education,  it  is  certainly  of  equal  impor- 
tance that  he  should  have  proper  training  in  morals  and  general  culture, 
and  this  training  St.  John’s  College  is  at  least  as  well  equipped  to 
give  as  the  largest  and  most  wealthy  institutions  of  learning.  It  is  in 
youth  that  our  characters  are  formed.  Character  is  something  that  is 
carved  or  cut  into  us,  fixed  indestructibly  as  part  of  ourselves.  It  must, 
I think,  be  admitted  that  the  greatest  desideratum  in  the  education  of 
youth  is  to  give  him  a high  moral  tone — character,  cut  deep  into  the 
very  bone  so  that  the  floods  and  tempests  of  life  can  leave  but  little 
impression  upon  the  graven  lines.  The  students  of  this  old  institution 
have  come  from  all  walks  of  life;  but  -when  they  pass  out  from  these 
halls  they  have  one  feature  in  common — the  alumnus  of  St.  John’s  is  in 
character  a gentleman. 

No  man  today  would  face  a body  of  college  graduates,  or  even  under- 
graduates, and  affirm  the  old  saw  that  man  is  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune.  The  greenest  sophomore  knows  the  absurdity  of  the  dictum 
of  Buckle  that  a Shakespeare  or  a Newton  could  be  born  among  the 
Hottentots  of  Africa  as  well  as  in  civilized  England,  and  that  intel- 
lectual ability  is  a matter  of  education  and  environment.  It  is  now 
known  that  brain  capacity  is  a matter  of  inheritance;  and  that  moral 
tendencies  are  also  inherited,  but  by  no  means  to  the  same  extent  as 
the  intellectual.  The  moral  atmosphere  in  which  a boy  is  reared  is 
assimilated  and  becomes  part  of  himself.  The  air  within  these  vener- 
able walls  is  saturated  with  the  moral  tone,  and  I may  add  with  the 
culture,  of  nearly  all  the  noble  Marylanders  who  have  made  fame  in 
this  State  or  beyond  its  borders.  In  this  lies  the  historic  grandeur  of 
St.  John’s  College,  and  in  this  abides  an  ever  potent  influence  for  good 
among  her  students.  The  shades  of  Maryland’s  heroic  dead  still  stalk 
about  this  campus  and  through  these  halls.  The  Lares  and  Penates  of 
St.  John’s  College  are  a continual  admonition  to  laborious  effort,  to 
virtue  and  integrity  in  thought  and  deed. 

To  write  a paper  upon  the  Alumni  of  St.  John’s  College,  and  do 
justice  to  the  subject,  would  be  tantamount  to  preparing  biographies 
of  most  of  the  distinguished  men  of  Maryland — indeed,  almost  to  write 
a history  of  the  State.  Were  I competent  for  such  an  undertaking  this 
is  hardly  the  occasion  for  its  presentation. 

While  we  claim  that  Maryland  built  the  first  steamboat,  the  first 
railway,  and  the  first  telegraph  line  in  this  country,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  in  science,  and  in  the  amassing  of  great  fortunes  our  State 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


25 


cannot  claim  any  special  distinction  among  her  sister  States.  But  in 
statesmanship,  in  the  formation  of  this  government,  and  in  its  political 
development,  her  influence  has  been  second  to  none;  while  in  the  number 
of  the  pre-eminently  great  lawyers  she  has  produced,  Maryland  is  with- 
out a peer;  and  to  enumerate  them  would  be  almost  like  calling  the 
roll  of  the  Alumni  of  St.  John’s  College.  Among  them  two  stand  out 
in  bold  prominence  in  the  history  of  the  State  and  the  Nation. 

Of  all  the  names  connected  with  the  College  that  of  William  Pinkney 
must  unquestionably  be  regarded  the  greatest.  Originally  destined  for 
the  medical  profession,  he  soon  perceived  that  a profession,  the  knowl- 
edge in  regard  to  which  was  at  that  time  so  crude  that  the  most  skilled 
practitioners  could  be  regarded  as  little  better  than  quacks,  was  not 
suited  to  his  genius  nor  to  the  genius  of  his  times.  In  Pinkney’s  age 
the  Zeitgeist  was  the  development  of  the  science  of  government  and 
its  twin  brother,  the  law.  Pinkney  became  a statesman  and  a lawyer. 
The  branches  of  the  profession  then  of  chief  importance  were  real 
estate  and  special  pleading.  He  acquired  an  accurate  and  profound 
knowledge  of  them  both.  In  the  practice  of  the  profession,  eloquence 
then  had  an  importance  which  we  in  this  age  of  dry  fact  can  with  diffi- 
culty estimate  or  realize.  William  Pinkney  cultivated  eloquence,  and 
became  the  most  eloquent  man  of  his  own  or  perhaps  of  any  age.  Some 
years  ago  a certain  European  Prince  was  distinguished  by  being  called 
il  the  first  gentleman  of  Europe.”  Pinkney’s  age  was  distinguished 
for  its  social  culture;  it  was  pre-eminently  the  age  of  gentlemen  in 
America,  and  he  was  pre-eminently  the  gentleman  of  his  age.  Con- 
temporary with  Luther  Martin  and  Daniel  Webster,  William  Pinkney 
was  at  least  their  equal  in  legal  know-ledge,  and  very  much  their  superior 
as  an  orator.  In  the  War  of  1812  he  was  an  officer  in  the  American 
Army.  Always  throughout  his  life  he  was  one  of  the  most  laborious 
of  men. 

A genius,  a supremely  great  man,  is  the  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lives.  Such  was  Pericles,  such  was  Shakespeare, 
such  was  Napoleon,  and  such  was  Pinkney.  Would  you  understand  the 
real  spirit  of  the  times  in  any  period  of  the  world’s  history?  Study 
the  biography,  and  the  acts  and  works  of  that  period’s  great  man.  A 
new  word  has  recently  found  its  way  into  the  English  language,  though 
I believe  not  yet  in  the  dictionaries — the  word  11  superman.”  In 
nearly  every  period  of  the  world’s  history  you  will  find  certain  super- 
men whose  lives  comprise  the  life  of  their  nation,  and  sometimes  of  the 
world,  while  they  lived.  Though  as  a soldier  Pinkney  never  won  a 
great  battle  or  planned  a great  campaign;  though  as  a statesman  he 
did  nothing  to  permanently  shape  his  country’s  destiny;  though  as  a 
lawyer  no  great  principle  of  the  law  owes  its  origin  to  him:  yet,  take 
him  all  in  all,  he  had  no  contemporary  who  better  represented  the 
character  of  the  times.  It  has  been  said  of  Shakespeare  that  he  was 
the  soul  of  his  age.  I say  of  William  Pinkney  he  was  the  embodiment 
of  the  spirit  of  his  times. 


26 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


St.  John’s  has  another  son  who  has  almost  equal  claim  to  be  classed 
among  the  supermen,  the  supremely  great  men  of  the  world.  The  result 
of  the  American  War  of  Independence  was  not  merely  the  creation  of 
a new  government,  and  a new  form  of  government  on  this  western 
hemisphere.  It  was  indeed  a revolution,  a complete  overturning  of  all 
preexisting  ideas  of  government.  It  was  the  beginning  of  an  evolution 
which  will  doubtless  affect  the  destinies  of  nations  for  ages  to  come. 
An  authoritative  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man,  a written  enumera- 
tion of  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  citizen  and  of  the  government 
were  its  chief  products;  and  they  gave  birth  to  new  thoughts,  new 
feelings  and  new  aspirations  among  mankind.  France  especially  was 
enthusiastic,  and  the  new  ideas  spread  throughout  the  world.  In  the 
War  of  1812,  the  life  of  the  new  order  of  things  was  felt  to  be  at  stake. 
Was  “ time’s  latest  offspring  ” to  perish?  Had  a painter  or  a sculptor 
given  the  world  a true  representation  of  the  spirit  and  thought  of  that 
age,  he  would  be  entitled  to  rank  among  the  world’s  supermen.  A 
poet  may  give  a name  and  local  habitation  to  airy  nothing,  but  only  a 
superpoet,  one  of  transcendent  genius,  could  in  a few  short  verses  give 
body,  form  and  substance  to  the  dream,  the  impalpable  spirit,  of  a 
whole  generation  of  mankind.  Oh,  Francis  Scott  Key,  long  will  your 
name  and  fame  wave  over  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the 
brave ! 

William  Pinkney  and  Francis  Scott  Key,  what  a combination,  and 
what  a contrast!  Would  that  a Plutarch  could  parallel  and  contrast 
their  lives!  Pinkney’s  life  itself  is  an  immortal  portrait  of  his  age; 
Key  portrayed  it  in  immortal  verse. 

Key’s  chief  claim  to  greatness,  striking  as  it  does  the  chord  of 
patriotic  sentiment,  is  at  this  day  thoroughly  appreciated.  A Key 
society  has  been  formed  to  preserve  the  memorials  of  his  life,  and 
monuments  have  been  erected  in  his  honor,  even  in  far  California. 
There  is  an  element  of  the  spectacular  in  that  heroic  song,  The  Star 
Spangled  Banner,  and  especially  in  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  composed;  it  appeals  to  the  popular  imagination,  to  man’s  love  of 
the  dramatically  heroic.  The  less  spectacular,  but  more  solid  claim  of 
Pinkney  to  supreme  greatness  will  be  slower  of  popular  recognition. 
But  some  day  there  will  arise  a sociologist  who  will  at  once  be  a scien- 
tist and  a philosopher.  He  will  analyze  all  the  elements  of  human 
greatness,  and  formulate  a science  of  systematic  knowledge  on  the 
subject.  Upon  that  foundation  he  will  construct  a philosophy,  and 
illustrate  it  by  the  lives  of  the  world’s  great  men.  In  that  galaxy  of 
the  world’s  deified  dead  William  Pinkney  will  shine  as  a star  of  the 
first  magnitude. 

Had  St.  John ’s  College  produced  only  a Pinkney  and  a Key,  in  giving 
these  two  great  sons  to  the  State  and  the  Nation  she  has  justified  her 
existence;  but  as  a matter  of  fact  throughout  the  entire  life  of  the 
Colony  and  State  of  Maryland,  the  brain  and  brawn  of  the  alumni  of 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


27 


St.  John ’s  have  done  much  to  shape  the  destinies  of  the  Commonwealth 
and  weave  her  wreaths  of  glory. 

Oh  Maryland,  when  you  forget  the  services  of  St.  John’s  College,  thy 
ingratitude  must  be  sharper  than  the  bite  of  the  adder ’s  tooth.  Through- 
out all  your  history,  the  brain  that  has  thought  for  you,  the  tongue  that 
has  talked  for  you,  and  the  hand  that  has  wrought  for  you  were  trained 
within  these  walls ! 

AIM  AND  OUTLOOK  FOR  THE  FUTURE 
By  Herbert  Noble,  Class  1889. 

My  Fellow  Alumni,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  does  not  seem  twenty  years  since  I ceased  to  be  a student  in  this 
old  College,  and  I suppose  the  feeling  which  I have  today — that  we 
should  be  at  home  in  our  old  rooms  again,  unmindful,  for  the  moment, 
of  the  places  we  have  made  for  ourselves  in  the  world  of  endeavor 
and  work  since  we  left  here — is  shared  by  all  of  us  who  have  come  back. 
The  intrigues  of  class  politics,  the  politics  of  the  secret  societies,  the 
keennees  of  the  football  and  other  athletic  contests,  the  glee  club  con- 
certs, the  serenades,  and  the  occasional  quiet  games  of  poker  at  a penny 
ante  and  five-cent  limit,  are  so  fresh  in  one’s  memory  that  one  feels 
almost  as  though  one  could  today  take  one’s  place  again  in  all  those 
activities.  I suppose,  however,  that  should  one  try,  the  rulers  of  today 
would  soon  let  us  old  fellows  know  that  we  have  had  our  day. 

Well,  if  so,  it  was  a happy  one,  and  these  thoughts,  associated  in  our 
minds  with  the  development  and  enlargement  of  our  intellectual  horizons 
during  our  student  life,  are  so  real  and  joyous  a heritage  that  the  old 
College  and  the  scenes  about  it  are  quite  as  much  of  a reality  in  our 
lives  as  to  you  men  who  are  here  now. 

The  memories  and  traditions  of  this  old  place  make  it  splendid  to 
us  all.  Its  inspiration  in  our  day  spurred  us  to  genuine  effort.  Our 
College  paper,  The  Collegian,  had  to  be  as  good  as,  or  better  than,  the 
exchanges  we  received;  our  football  team  had  to  overcome  the  skill  of 
our  friends  the  enemy:  the  Hopkins,  the  Cadets,  etc.,  etc.,  and  our  run- 
ners had  to  outstrip  their  competitors.  It  was  a period  wherein  we 
felt  that  not  only  was  individual  effort  due  from  us,  for  our  own  sakes, 
but  due  to  the  College.  There  was  an  entire  absence  of  the  indifferent 
attitude  one  observes  in  some  institutions.  The  tone  and  spirit  of  the 
College  made  the  students  personally  self-reliant,  and  yet  a cohesive 
body  of  men.  No  man  was  accounted  a leader  whose  qualities  of  person 
did  not  give  him  natural  leadership,  and  yet  no  man  felt  that  he  was 
unfairly  treated,  for  the  student-body,  though  a severe  critic,  was  fair, 
and,  after  all,  its  criticisms  were  inspiring. 

The  students’  estimates  of  each  other,  as  I remember  them,  have 
turned  out,  I believe,  to  be  just.  There  was  among  us  a spirit  of 
candor,  and  of  fairness  of  judgment  and  dealing.  This  tone,  this  spirit. 


28 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


was  handed  down  to  us  from  other  days,  and  it  is  this  splendid  tone  and 
spirit,  which  I know  is  the  traditional  one,  which  has  come  to  you 
students  of  today,  and  which  you  exemplify  not  only  in  your  student 
life,  in  your  lives  with  each  other,  but  in  the  College  spirit  meted  out 
by  you  to  our  foeman  in  the  intercollegiate  contests.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
fair  play,  of  personal  effort,  of  any  personal  sacrifice  necessary  to  make 
the  College  win. 

The  conditions  among  which  we  lived,  when  I was  here,  gave  us  an 
extraordinary  understanding  of  each  other.  There  were  not  very  many 
students  in  those  days.  Every  man  knew,  and  was  brought  into  con- 
tact with,  every  other  man.  Each  man  had  the  measure  of  the  other. 
We  had  the  advantage,  which  you  still  enjoy,  of  coming  into  personal 
and  intimate  contact  with  the  instructors  and  professors,  not  only  in 
the  class-rooms  but  in  our  social  relations,  and  in  our  athletic  and  other 
contests. 

You  men  of  today  have  grown  since  our  day.  There  are  more  of  you. 
You  accomplish  more,  as  a body,  than  we  were  able  to  achieve,  but 
you  accomplish  it  with  the  same  spirit  of  effort,  and  the  same  spirit 
of  personal  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  College  that  we  brought  to 
our  student  life. 

As  I look  about  me  I see  monuments  of  progress  on  every  side. 
Woodward  Hall,  named  to  commemorate  the  generosity  of  a Mary- 
lander, has  been  built;  the  dining  hall  and  this  beautiful  gymnasium, 
monuments  to  the  generosity  of  Maryland,  have  been  built.  The 
courses  of  study  have  advanced  and  broadened;  a civil  engineering 
course  has  been  introduced;  the  military  organization  has  not  only 
helped  in  the  physical  training  of  the  students  while  here,  but  has  made 
good  soldiers  of  some  of  our  men,  eighteen  of  our  graduates  having 
been  commissioned  in  the  Army  since  my  day.  The  great  Empire 
builder,  Cecil  Rhodes,  by  his  life  of  labor  and  effort,  has  assured  to 
one  alumnus  of  this  College  the  rare  opportunity  and  experience  of 
residing  as  a student  at  the  great  English  University  of  Oxford.  I 
earnestly  hope  that  he  has  associated  himself  there  with  the  beautiful 
St.  John’s  College,  for  which  this  venerable  institution  is  named. 

The  number  of  students  here  has  increased;  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  leaders  of  the  College,  both  in  the  Faculty  and  in  the  student-body, 
is  apparent  everywhere.  To  what  is  this  all  due?  It  is  due  to  the 
spirit  of  devoted  service  to  the  interests  of  the  College  by  everybody 
connected  with  it;  to  the  personal  devotion  and  wise  leadership  of 
Dr.  Fell,  aided  by  the  Faculty  and  warmly  supported  by  the  Visitors, 
and  aided  in  no  small  part  by  an  enlightened  public  opinion  in  the 
State. 

Yet  McDowell  Hall,  our  greatest  link  with  the  past,  is  in  ashes. 
What  are  we  to  do?  Keep  on;  work;  strive;  secure;  maintain.  This 
disaster,  though  great,  has  served  to  again  bring  to  the  College  the 
warm  interest  and  affection  of  a loyal  alumni,  and,  I trust  and  believe, 
the  sympathy  and  desire  to  aid,  of  the  people  of  Maryland. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


20 


What  are  the  needs  of  today,  and  what  is  our  part?  Never,  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  has  there  been  a time  when  there  was  such  need 
as  today  for  trained  men  willing  and  anxious  to  do  the  world’s  work. 
Never  has  there  been  a time  when  the  men  who  are  to  do  the  world’s 
work  had  to  be  as  well  qualified  as  today.  On  every  side  the  ablest 
men,  the  men  with  the  clearest  vision,  are  overburdened  with  the  re- 
sponsible duties  which  they  have  to  discharge. 

Our  country  has  with  vast  strides  passed  from  a formative  period, 
not  only  in  its  political  institutions,  but  in  its  economic  conditions,  to 
a period  where  its  stability  is  established.  Highly  developed  organi- 
zations, resulting  in  enormous  volume  of  business,  have  increased  the 
necessity  for  intelligence  and  training,  and  as  the  supply  of  brains  is 
not  equal  to  the  demand,  not  only  is  the  price  for  trained  men  high, 
but  the  necessity  for  trained  brains  is  urgent. 

Expert  training,  in  special  lines,  is  the  need  of  the  day.  The  con- 
ditions are  such  that  it  takes  all  the  trained  men  it  is  possible  to  get 
to  prevent  waste  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  rightly  guide  progress  on 
the  other. 

Under  our  American  system,  it  is  the  endeavor  and  purpose  of  the 
State  to  provide  the  means  of  education  for  all  the  inhabitants.  In 
Maryland  there  seems  to  be  a great  awakening  to  the  needs  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  present.  Great  attention  is  being  paid  to  higher  edu- 
cation. In  the  public  school  system,  High  Schools  have  been  established 
throughout  the  State,  and  placed  upon  a satisfactory  basis.  The 
Governor,  pursuant  to  an  enlightened  policy  has  appointed  a commission 
to  study  the  proper  way  to  corelate,  and  get  the  best  results  for  the 
people  of  the  State  from  the  investment  being  yearly  made  by  the  State 
for  the  education  of  its  youth,  and  to  find  a wise  and  satisfactory  way 
for  maintaining  and  further  developing  a higher  education,  which  the 
march  of  events  has  made  essential,  not  only  here,  but  everywhere. 

Throughout  Europe  the  State  has  universally  pushed  forward,  with- 
out private  aid,  and  is  pushing  forward,  the  training  of  youth.  The 
exactness  of  that  training,  the  time  given  to  it,  and  the  reliability  of 
the  knowledge  acquired  by  the  youth  of  Europe,  command  for  them 
not  only  occupation  at  home,  but  positions  of  responsibility  and  leader- 
ship throughout  the  world. 

In  this  country,  the  generosity  and  public  spirit  of  our  men  of 
wealth  have  aided  some  of  our  ancient  foundations,  and  have  founded 
institutions  of  learning  which  are  the  marvels  of  the  age;  but  these 
have  not  the  capacity  or  the  working  plant  necessary  to  train  the  vast 
body  of  men  and  women  who  are  eager  to  do  their  part  as  trained 
workers  in  the  world’s  work. 

In  Maryland,  the  generosity  of  Johns  Hopkins  gave  to  the  United 
States  a University  whose  work  has  been,  perhaps,  as  great  an  in- 
centive as  any  in  America,  toward  the  higher  education.  In  Chicago, 
the  munificence  of  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  has  built  the  great  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  and  founded  it  upon  the  broadest  basis.  Harvard, 


30 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Yale,  Princeton  and  Columbia  have  grown  from  small  institutions  to- 
great  seats  of  learning.  Virginia,  through  all  the  vicissitudes  follow- 
ing the  War,  has,  as  one  of  her  proudest  boasts,  uniformly  maintained 
and  added  to  the  annual  support  given  to  that  great  seat  of  learning, 
the  University  of  Virginia,  founded  by  Thomas  Jefferson  on  truly  uni- 
versity lines,  and  in  recent  years  its  great  merits  have  attracted  the 
gifts  of  many  men  of  wealth  and  public  spirit. 

In  many  of  the  newer  States,  where  there  were  no  ancient  founda- 
tions, and  where  the  public  lands  were  within  the  gifts  of  the  Nation 
or  the  State,  new  universities  have  arisen,  whose  only  endowments 
have  been  gifts  of  public  lands,  and  whose  support  has  come  and  is 
provided  for  by  the  people  of  the  respective  States;  with  the  result 
that  there  is  at  hand  the  means  for  the  proper  training  of  their  youth. 

In  Maryland  there  is  no  State  University.  Many  of  our  institutions 
of  higher  learning,  however,  are  in  receipt  of  State  aid,  and  this  is 
eminently  as  it  should  be.  It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  no 
matter  how  much  money  the  State  should  yearly  expend  upon  the  pri- 
mary and  the  higher  education  of  its  youth,  that  that  money  would  be 
profitable  and  well  expended. 

It  has  never  been  the  genius  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  build  new 
foundations,  where  there  were  at  hand  old  institutions — in  their  nature 
capable  of  growth — when  the  needs  of  the  time  demanded  development. 
We  have  ingrafted  all  our  law  upon  the  common  law.  There  is  scarcely 
a principle  of  law,  and  scarcely  a statute,  of  which  it  may  not  be  truly 
said  that  it  is  a development  of  the  common  law  of  our  ancestors,  and 
which  they  brought  here  from  England. 

It  seems  to  me  clear  that  Maryland’s  duty,  as  to  the  education  of 
its  youth,  is  to  be  performed  by  aiding  existing  institutions  generously 
and  adequately.  Tradition,  college  spirit,  and  the  tone  of  institutions 
of  ancient  foundation,  are  not  to  be  overlooked  or  neglected.  They 
have  their  true  place  in  the  intellectual  development,  and  in  forming 
the  character,  of  the  students,  and  inspiring  the  ideals  which,  in  so 
large  a degree,  shape  their  future  careers. 

In  building  the  University  of  Virginia,  Thomas  Jefferson  recognized 
this  in  the  classical  character  of  the  buildings  which  he  designed  for 
that  truly  great  institution  of  learning.  The  new  buildings  which  are 
being  erected  at  Princeton  are  all  classical  in  their  type.  They  speak 
to  the  young  mind  of  the  continuity  of  civilization,  evolution,  and 
growth,  and  bring  their  inspiration  in  the  reminder  of  the  great  deeds 
of  men  in  various  fields  of  endeavor.  The  same  is  true  of  the  growth 
at  Harvard,  Yale,  Chicago,  and  at  Columbia,  where  all  the  buildings 
have  been  erected  within  the  past  fifteen  years,  the  great  library  build- 
ing is  modeled  on  the  Parthenon,  and  the  other  University  buildings 
in  the  Colonial  style. 

The  State  or  the  man  who  tries  to  dissociate  himself  from  and  ignore 
the  past  loses  a heritage  which  would  make  his  work  easier,  and  would 
give  it  a larger  and  fuller  meaning. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


31 


Within  the  last  few  years  St.  John’s  College,  one  of  the  oldest  insti- 
tutions of  learning  in  America,  has  become  affiliated  with  the  University 
of  Maryland,  as  its  School  or  Arts  and  Sciences.  That  University  has 
the  oldest  medical  school,  save,  perhaps,  one,  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  proud  traditions  of  these  two  institutions  of  learning  are  now 
linked. 

One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  Maryland,  as  a State,  was  the  granting  of 
a charter  for  a University  of  Maryland,  and  at  that  time  it  was  in- 
tended that  St.  John’s  should  be  one  of  the  institutions  which  should 
form  that  university.  Accordingly,  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  au- 
thorities of  the  two  institutions  has,  in  a measure,  fulfilled  the  inten- 
tion of  our  ancestors.  So  that  we  have  here  an  undergraduate  school, 
most  favorably  located  at  the  Capital  of  the  State,  an  old  town  con- 
taining historical  associations,  inhabited  by  cultured  and  refined  people, 
and  without  the  distractions  and  opportunities  for  dissipation  of  a 
large  city. 

In  Baltimore  we  have  graduate  schools  for  law,  medicine,  and  other 
graduate  subjects.  The  students  of  law  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  practice  in  the  State  and  Federal  Courts  of  Baltimore;  and  the 
students  of  medicine  have  the  advantage  of  studying  their  profession 
in  the  great  hospitals  which  draw  from  a great  population  and  from  a 
great  seaport.  A more  favorable  situation  can  hardly  be  pictured  for 
the  training  of  men  than  is  presented  by  these  two  institutions.  They 
should  attract,  and  are  attracting,  the  generosity  of  private  bene- 
factors, but,  unfortunately,  the  gifts  thus  received  are  insufficient  to 
supply  the  needs  of  the  hour. 

The  duty  of  the  alumni  is  plain.  It  is  by  every  means  in  their  power, 
with  the  spirit  which  characterized  them  when  students,  to  make  any 
personal  sacrifice  necessary  to  make  the  College  win  her  place. 

Every  alumnus  should,  from  his  own  private  fortune,  give  something, 
and  give  as  often  as,  by  sacrifice,  he  can.  We  should  seek  from  those 
in  Maryland,  and  elsewhere,  who  can  give,  benefactions  for  these  insti- 
tutions. Every  alumnus  should  seek  to  arouse  and  inspire  the  State  to 
give  liberal,  generous  and  adequate  aid  toward  the  upbuilding  and 
development  of  the  University  of  Maryland  and  St.  John’s  College, 
without  failing,  at  the  same  time,  to  give  the  needed  aid  to  the  other 
institutions  of  the  State.  We  should  feel,  and  every  citizen  should  be 
made  to  feel,  that  in  aiding  the  University  bearing  the  State’s  name, 
and  St.  John’s  College,  help  is  being  given  not  only  to  institutions 
which  have  done  their  full  share  in  the  work  of  the  State,  but  insti- 
tutions having  organizations  which,  by  development,  can  care  for  the 
essential  needs  of  the  higher  education  of  the  youth  of  the  State.  And 
the  University  and  the  College  should  be  ready  to  make  generous 
acknowledgment,  in  the  form  of  scholarships  or  other  facilities,  of  the 
aid  thus  received  from  the  State. 

Thus  will  the  needed  funds  be  provided  now,  through  private  gift 
and  through  generous  State  aid,  for  St.  John’s  College,  for  the  Uni- 


32 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


versity  of  Maryland,  and  for  the  other  institutions  of  learning  of  the 
State,  to  give  to  those  within  our  borders  such  higher  education  as  will 
fit  our  youth,  now  and  in  the  future,  to  take  their  own  proper  places 
in  the  work  to  be  done  in  our  time  and  in  the  future. 

Build  on  the  old.  Rebuild  McDowell  Hall.  Work  with  devotion  for 
the  development  of  St.  John’s.  And  if  each  man  does  his  duty,  the 
next  twenty  years  will  see  not  only  the  progress  of  the  last  twenty,  but 
will  find  here  an  institution  of  which  the  State  and  every  alumnus  may 
be  proud. 

Following  these  addresses  the  keys  of  the  Gymnasium  were  delivered 
to  the  President  of  the  College  by  the  Hon.  Winslow  Williams,  repre- 
senting the  Governor  of  Maryland  (Hon.  Austin  L.  Crothers),  and  his 
remarks  were  greeted  with  enthusiasm. 

ADDRESS  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF  ST.  JOHN’S  COLLEGE 
GYMNASIUM 

By  Hon.  N.  Winslow  Williams, 

Secretary  of  State  of  Maryland. 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Faculty,  Alumni,  and  our  Distinguished 
Guests : 

It  is  a very  great  pleasure  to  me  to  be  with  you  today.  I do  not 
know  any  privilege  that  could  come  to  me,  as  a representative  of  the 
State  of  Maryland,  greater  or  more  appealing,  than  to  attend  a function 
at  this  splendid  old  Institution  of  St.  John’s  College,  in  the  dear  old 
town  of  Annapolis.  I do  not  believe  there  is  a citizen  or  man  whose 
forefathers  have  come  from  Maryland  who  can  listen  to  the  sound  of 
the  name  of  Annapolis  without  having  his  heart  stirred;  and  it  is 
peculiarly  appropriate  that  in  this  old  city,  which  certainly  stands  for 
all  that  was  first,  for  all  that  was  best,  in  the  early  days  of  this  country; 
that  in  this  old  city  should  be  built  up  and  maintained  an  institution  of 
the  accomplishments  and  of  the  traditions  that  belong  to  “ St.  John’s.” 

I have  listened  with  great  interest  to  the  history,  past  and  present, 
and  the  forecast  of  the  future  of  this  institution,  delivered  successively 
from  the  scholarly  lips  of  the  members  of  the  Alumni.  And  just  as  an 
onlooker,  as  one  who  has  observed  the  men  who  represent  this  College, 
and  its  learned,  able,  conscientious  President,  and  in  its  capable  faculty, 
and  likewise  the  men  I know  wdio  have  come  to  this  institution,  and 
some  of  the  boys  who  are  here  now;  from  all  these  things  I am  satis- 
fied that  every  word  that  these  gentlemen  said  of  it  is  true.  You  have 
produced  great  men  and  you  are  going  to  produce  great  men,  and  you 
are  doing  a great  work  for  the  State  of  Maryland.  Not  only  has  the 
State  of  Maryland  reason  to  be  proud  of  you,  but  the  State  of  Mary- 
land owes  a debt  of  gratitude  to  you,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State 
of  Maryland  to  fulfill  this  obligation.  I do  not  believe  that  anything 
makes  so  much  for  the  strength,  for  the  progress  and  for  the  integrity 
of  a community  as  education  of  the  right  kind, — education  which  teaches 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


33 


men  not  only  how  to  use  their  minds  and  do  their  work  properly,  but 
education,  as  has  been  well  said  here  today,  which  makes  of  men  gentle- 
men. And  I use  the  term  ‘ 1 gentlemen  7 ’ in  its  very  best  sense.  I mean 
men  of  culture,  refinement  and  of  the  inspiration  of  high  ideals.  I be- 
lieve that  St.  John’s  College  makes  of  men  1 ‘ gentlemen.”  And  you 
know  we  ought  to  treasure  very  closely  to  our  hearts  the  gentlemen  and 
the  preservation  of  the  gentlemen  of  Maryland.  There  is  not  a section 
of  this  dear  old  city  without  its  intimate  landmarks  to  recall  the  days 
when  this  was  a land  of  chivalry,  and  Annapolis  was  its  heart. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  my  privilege  and  opportunity  today  to 
tender  to  this  College  and  to  its  work  a building  that  is  intended  for 
another  branch  of  education,  that  is  the  physical  development  of  these 
young  men,  and  while  we  all  realize  of  course,  that  training  of  the  mind 
is  what  goes  to  make  for  the  higher  manhood,  we  know  too  that  no 
sustained  mental  strength  can  ever  be  built  or  maintained  upon  physical 
weakness.  Those  who  have  followed  the  history  of  the  past  four  or  five 
generations  of  the  men  of  this  country  must  realize  that  the  American 
man  during  that  time  was  physically  deteriorating  because  of  over- 
work, lack  of  rest,  hurried  meals  and  general  physical  exhaustion.  He 
had  no  time  for  physical  culture  and  the  result  was  that  he  was  fast 
becoming  an  over- worked,  nervous  dyspeptic,  but  I rejoice  in  the  fact 
that  within  the  last  two  generations  at  least,  there  has  developed  a new 
era  in  the  physical  life  and  training  of  the  men  of  this  country.  Today 
they  are  in  the  saddle  again  as  they  were  in  the  years  ago;  they  play 
football,  baseball,  golf  and  tennis.  It  is  that  sort  of  training  and  that 
sort  of  living  that  is  going  to  lay  a splendid  physical  foundation  for 
future  generations. 

But  we  cannot  always  get  the  out-door  exercise  that  we  would  like. 
For  instance,  during  the  past  fortnight  there  has  been  so  much  rain 
that  little  else  than  swimming  was  available  without;  and,  at  Christmas 
times,  even  in  this  salubrious  clime,  snow  often  covers  the  ground  and 
leaves  only  skeeing  possible.  Under  these  conditions,  in  order  that  the 
muscles  may  not  get  rusty  and  the  tendons  weak,  we  must  have  some 
place  where  we  may  keep  ourselves  in  condition,  as  I recall  the  feats 
of  my  boyhood  days,  by  “ doing  the  giant  swing  ” and  “ skinning  the 
cat.”  We  all  advocate  the  gymnasium  as  a supplement  to  the  field 
sports,  but  it  is  a pastime  and  a strain  that  may  be  overdone,  and  so 
I would  warn  young  men  that  while  the  first  law  of  the  gymnasium 
will  always  be  to  exercise  muscles,  its  second  law  should  be  to  exercise 
moderation. 

I congratulate  the  students  of  St.  John’s  that  it  is  to  be  their  privi- 
lege to  have  the  use  of  this  beautiful  structure  for  a gymnasium,  and 
I hope  that  the  equipment  that  is  to  go  with  it  is  going  to  be  what  it 
ought  to  be,  up-to-date  and  complete. 

I note  that  the  State  of  Maryland  at  the  close  of  the  last  session  of 
the  Legislature  was  unable  to  donate  to  this  building  anything  more 
than  $10,000,  and,  of  course,  every  one  knows  that  $10,000  won’t  build 


34 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


and  equip  an  adequate  gymnasium,  and  so  I asked  some  questions  of 

the  Alumni,  and  learned  you  were  $25,000  behind.  But  this  matters 

little,  for  we  would  sometimes  not  get  the  things  we  need  if  we  did  not 
go  in  debt  for  them,  and  it  is  a habit  with  the  public  to  discount  the 

beneficence  of  the  State.  I hope,  nevertheless,  that  these  creditors  are 

not  going  to  be  kept  waiting  overlong  for  their  $25,000,  and  I hope  that 
the  State  of  Maryland,  if  it  does  not  look  upon  it  as  an  obligation, 
will  at  least  treat  it  as  a privilege,  just  as  munificently,  and  just  as 
rapidly,  as  she  may  be  able,  to  come  to  your  help.  (Upon  the  entrance 
of  former  Governor  Warfield.) 

It  is  a great  pleasure  to  see,  as  I now  do,  Governor  Warfield  come  in. 
No  man  has  ever  done  more  for  the  State  of  Maryland  than  our  former 
Governor.  And  I think  that  in  Major  Edwin,  Jr.,  a graduate  of  this 
year,  he  has  furnished  an  exemplar  as  a student  of  St.  John’s.  . . . 

I cannot  pass  from  the  question  of  the  completion  of  this  building 
and  the  paying  for  it,  without  referring  to  the  great  loss  the  College, 
the  City  and  the  State  have  suffered  by  reason  of  the  fire  that  burned 
down  McDowell  Hall. 

There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  re- 
construction of  this  building,  but  whether  in  the  interest  of  historical 
association  and  sentiment  the  reconstruction  should  be  along  the  old 
lines,  working  out  a replica  of  the  old  building  so  that  one  of  An- 
napolis’s most  cherished  landmarks  shall  be  preserved,  or  whether  we 
should  be  more  practical  and  while  preserving  the  identity  by  means 
of  cornerstone  and  inscription,  erect  on  the  old  site  a building  adapted 
to  modern  uses,  I am  not  prepared  to  say;  therefore,  will  leave  the 
decision  of  this  question  to  your  President,  the  Faculty  and  Trustees, 
and  I feel  very  confident  and  very  hopeful  that  the  State  of  Mary- 
land will  avail  itself  of  the  privilege  of  at  least  having  a hand  in  the 
reconstruction  of  McDowell  Hall. 

And  generally  as  to  the  matter  of  State  aid  for  your  College;  what- 
ever the  State  can  afford  to  give  should  be  given  wisely  and  syste- 
matically and  not  sporadically  or  haphazardly  so  that  you  may  forsee 
it  and  reap  its  full  benefit. 

Mr.  President,  in  the  name  of  his  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  Mary- 
land, whose  regret  at  his  inability  to  be  present  is  shared  by  us  all,  and 
in  behalf  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  I take  great  pleasure  in  presenting 
to  the  Trustees  of  St.  John’s  College  this  Gymnasium  Building,  and  I 
dedicate  it  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  chivalry  and  the  manhood  that 
has  always  belonged  to  and  should  always  be  the  pride  of  the  youth 
of  Maryland. 

ACCEPTANCE  BY  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

In  accepting  the  donation  from  the  State,  Dr.  Thomas  Fell  said: 

Reverently,  as  one  who  recognizes  the  importance  of  the  gift,  I ac- 
cept the  charge  you  have  committed  to  my  care.  Enthusiastically,  as 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


35 


one  who  realizes  the  possibilities  it  presents  for  promoting  the  welfare 
of  the  students,  I gratefully  acknowledge  the  benefaction  of  the  State, — 
which  you,  sir,  have  conveyed  to  us  in  terms  most  pleasing. 

Athletics  in  connection  with  college  life  have  received  a great  impetus 
during  the  last  ten  years.  There  can  hardly  be  found  in  the  present 
day  any  one  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  where  there  is  not 
established  a practical  gymnasium  and  directed  as  is  any  of  the  de- 
partments assigned  to  the  pursuit  of  arts  and  sciences.  It  is  now 
universally  recognized  that  a well  developed  physique  is  a necessary 
adjunct  to  the  highest  intellectual  attainment.  A great  and  universal 
interest  is  being  manifested  in  gymnastic  exercise  and  out-door  athletic 
sports.  Column  after  column  of  our  daily  newspapers  devoted  to  such 
matters  bears  evidence  to  the  popularity  they  possess.  It  is  a good 
sign.  It  indicates  that  outside  of  the  college  more  attention  is  being 
paid  to  the  results  of  physical  training  which  means  better  health  and 
improvement  of  the  species,  and  which  must  tell  favorably  on  the  next 
generation. 

If  the  true  tradition  of  athletics  is  that  they  are  the  legitimate  fields 
of  action  in  the  most  active  time  of  life,  that  they  diminish  wickedness 
and  foster  cleanness  of  living,  that  the  mind  is  strengthened  by  the  neces- 
sary amount  of  attention  that  must  be  paid  even  to  the  acquirement  of 
ease  in  simple  club  swinging  and,  above  all,  that  they  unite  us  in  one 
forcible  loyal  effort  at  proper  intervals,  let  us  then  appreciate  to  the 
fullest  extent  the  inspiring  results  that  must  flow  from  the  proper  use 
of  this  magnificent  gymnasium. 

Alumni  ftotiurj 

At  6.00  P.  M.  there  was  again  a Dress  Parade  by  the  Cadet  Corps, 
and  in  the  evening  at  7.30  P.  M.  the  Alumni  Meeting  and  Dinner  took 
place.  This  dinner  took  place  in  the  dining  hall  of  the  College  and  was 
a most  enjoyable  social  affair. 

Prior  to  the  dinner  the  regular  business  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Gymnasium,  at  which  the  election  of  officers  took  place,  resulting  as  fol- 
lows: 

President — Ridgely  P.  Melvin,  class  of  1899,  of  Annapolis. 

First  Vice-President — Richard  J.  Duvall,  of  Annapolis. 

Second  Vice-President — Dr.  Samuel  M.  Wagaman,  class  of  1893,  of 
Hagerstown. 

Secretary — Prof.  B.  Vernon  Cecil,  class  of  1890,  of  Annapolis. 

Treasurer — T.  Kent  Green,  class  of  1886,  of  Annapolis. 

Executive  Committee — Roger  E.  Simmons,  class  of  1897,  of  Baltimore; 
Frank  A.  Munroe,  of  Annapolis;  Lieut.  Edmund  B.  Iglehart,  United 
States  Army,  class  of  1894;  L.  B.  Keene  Claggett,  class  of  1895. 

Historiographer — John  Harrison,  class  of  1907,  of  Baltimore. 


36 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


At  the  banquet  the  following  toasts  were  responded  to: 

“ St.  John’s  College,”  Dr.  Thomas  Fell;  “ Our  Eldest  Sister,”  Dr. 
Percival  Hall,  of  Harvard;  L ‘ The  Public  School,  the  University  of  the 
People,”  former  Governor  Edwin  Warfield;  “ Our  Elder  Sister,”  Presi- 
dene  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  of  William  and  Mary  College;  “The  College  and 
the  State,”  Gen.  N.  Winslow  Williams;  “ The  New  South  Through  Old 
Glasses,”  Capt.  C.  A.  Johnston,  of  Mississippi;  three  cheers  for  the 
orange  and  black,  “ St.  John’s,  St.  John’s,  St.  John’s,”  Lieut.  E.  B. 
Iglehart  and  Ridgely  P.  Melvin. 

Those  who  enjoyed  the  dinner  were: 

Alexander  Randall,  Wilfred  H.  Townshend,  Pratt  D.  Phillips,  T. 
Spencer  Crane,  Addison  E.  Mulliken,  W.  Outerbridge  Spates,  John  W. 
Hodges,  Peter  B.  Blanchard,  ex-Judge  Daniel  R.  Magruder,  H.  R. 
Dougherty,  John  T.  Harrison,  Judge  Henry  D.  Harlan,  Aubrey  E.  Jack- 
son,  A.  Theodore  Brady,  E.  M.  Hays,  Rev.  John  P.  Hyde,  A.  Sydney  Stal- 
lings, Howard  T.  Ruhl,  Charles  A.  Cummings,  Elliott  H.  Burwell,  Burton 
Proctor,  Waller  Bailey,  Roger  E.  Simmons,  H.  Hardings,  Jr.,  Amos  F. 
Hutchins,  E.  G.  Parsley,  Alfred  Houston,  George  W.  Wilson,  W.  G.  Pull- 
man, D.  F.  Duvall,  E.  Clarke  Fontaine,  Edward  R.  Padgett,  W.  P.  Chap- 
man, Evelyn  A.  Harrison,  Dr.  John  P.  Briscoe,  Judge  John  P.  Briscoe, 
Dr.  E.  H.  Hutchins,  William  Neill,  Jr.,  William  J.  Norris,  Blanchard 
Randall,  E.  Dallam  Parsons,  J.  Morgan  Read,  H.  S.  Turner,  Frank  A. 
Munroe,  H.  B.  Scarborough,  James  Clark,  Louis  T.  Clark,  Hugh  Nelson, 
John  S.  M.  Zimmerman,  Jay  Williams,  Bernard  Carter,  J.  H.  C.  Kemp, 
Jr.,  Dr.  Walton  H.  Hopkins,  Prof.  B.  Yernon  Cecil,  L.  Dorsey  Gassaway, 
T.  Kent  Green,  Herbert  Noble,  Rev.  George  M.  Cummings,  T.  B.  Beall, 
John  M.  Thompson,  F.  Egerton  Powell,  Dr.  Wirt  A.  Duvall,  James  D. 
Iglehart,  Edgar  A.  Yey,  Edward  T.  Clark,  Mayor  Gordon  H.  Claude  of 
Annapolis,  T.  West  Claggett,  L.  B.  Keene  Claggett,  Otis  H.  Draper, 
Jesse  H.  Ramsburgh,  Robert  H.  Williams,  George  Forbes,  Levi  T.  Hecht, 
Prof.  A.  W.  Woodcock,  J.  T.  H.  Wyse,  Arthur  DeP.  Yalk,  Dennis  J. 
Thompston,  Heningham  Gordon,  James  M.  Munroe,  Sprignal  P.  Wiley, 
Samuel  G.  Townshend,  Jr.,  George  A.  Frick,  Peter  H.  Magruder, 
William  C.  Devecmon,  John  S.  Strahorn,  James  A.  Fechtig,  W.  Thomas 
Kemp,  Robert  Pennington,  Lieut.  E.  Berkely  Iglehart,  U.  S.  A.;  Richard 
J.  Duvall,  John  L.  Chew,  John  Wirt  Randall,  Ridgely  P.  Melvin,  J. 
Yincent  Jamison,  Charles  H.  Schuster,  Joseph  R.  Pennell,  George  W. 
Wilcox,  E.  T.  Lawrence,  Irving  D.  Ireland,  Daniel  R.  Randall,  Walton  H. 
Grant,  Philip  H.  Harrison,  William  A.  Strohm,  W.  B.  Chicester,  E.  Earle 
Hearn,  E.  H.  Worthington,  H.  O.  Ridgely,  George  M.  Register,  Edwin 
H.  Brown,  Jr.,  Walter  I.  Dawkins,  James  D.  Hamill,  W.  P.  Norris, 
Lieut.  W.  Garland  Fay,  Marine  Corps;  L.  S.  Blades,  John  M.  Green, 
E.  O.  Halbert,  E.  D.  Padgett,  Howard  C.  Hill. 

Ex-Governor  Edwin  Warfield,  Dr.  Thomas  Fell,  and  all  the  visiting 
educators  were  the  guests  of  the  Alumni  Association. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


37 


(Hmtmuntnmmtt  Bay 

WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  16. 

The  procession  formed  in  the  College  Library,  Woodward  Hall,  and 
included  all  the  visiting  delegates,  in  the  order  of  the  founding  of  their 
respective  institutions,  the  Board  of  Visitors,  candidates  for  Honorary 
Degrees,  the  Graduating  Class,  and  the  Faculty  of  the  College,  and  pro- 
ceeded thence  to  the  Gymnasium,  where  a suitable  stage  had  been 
erected. 


The  visiting  delegates  were  as  follows: 

1636  Harvard  University.  .Prof.  Percival  Hall,  Gallaudet  College,  Wash. 

1693  William  & Mary  College Pres.  Lyon  G.  Tyler. 

1701  Yale  University.  .Prof.  W.  Woolsey  Johnson, 

U.  S.  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis,  Md. 
1740  University  of  Pennsylvania ..  Prof . Wm.  Romaine  Newbold,  Phila. 

1749  Washington  & Lee  University Pres.  George  H.  Denny. 

1754  Columbia  University.  . . .Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin,  Washington,  D.  C. 

1766  Rutgers  College President  W.  H.  S.  Demarest. 

1776  Hampden-Sidney  College. . .W.  H.  Whiting,  Jr.,  Acting  President. 
1782  Washington  College Prof.  James  Roy  Micou. 

1787  Franklin  & Marshall  College President  John  S.  Stahr. 

1788  Dickinson  College President  Geo.  Edward  Reed. 

1789  Georgetown  University President  Joseph  Himmel,  S.  J. 

1793  Williams  College 

1794  Bowdoin  College ..  Hon.  D.  S.  Alexander, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington. 

1802  U.  S.  Military  Academy Gen.  J.  Franklin  Bell,  U.  S.  A. 

1812  Princeton  Theological  Seminary ...  Rev.  Prof.  Wm.  P.  Armstrong. 

1812  Hamilton  College Rev.  Alexander  Alison,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

1819  Norwich  University.  .Hon.  F.  H.  Plumley, 

House  of  Representatives,  Washington. 

1819  Colgate  University President  Wm.  H.  Crawshaw. 

1821  Amherst  College Professor  A.  J.  Hopkins. 

1823  Trinity  College Rev.  Romilly  F.  Humphries,  Baltimore. 

1825  University  of  Virginia 

1830  Randolph-Macon  College President  R.  E.  Blackwell. 

1830  New  York  University 

1833  Delaware  College President  Geo.  A.  Harter. 

1833  Haverford  College Professor  L.  W.  Reid 

1837  University  of  Michigan 

1839  Virginia  Military  Institute Superintendent  E.  W.  Nichols. 

1840  University  of  Notre  Dame 


38  St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 

1845  U.  S.  Naval  Academy Capt.  Chas.  J.  Badger,  U.  S.  N.,  Supt. 

1845  Tulane  University.  ..Prof.  C.  Y.  Cusachs,  U.  S.  N.  A.,  Annapolis. 

1846  Bueknell  University President  George  H.  Harris. 

1851  Northwestern  University President  A.  W.  Harris. 

1852  Loyola  College President  F.  X.  Brady,  S.  J. 

1860  St.  Stephens  College President  George  B.  Hopson. 

1861  Vassar  College 

1864  Gallaudet  College President  E.  M.  Gallaudet. 

1864  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 

1864  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  .Professor  A.  N.  Brown, 

Annapolis,  Md. 

1866  Lehigh  University President  Henry  S.  Drinker. 

1867  University  of  Illinois President  E.  J.  James. 

1868  University  of  the  South 

1868  Cornell  University Professor  Hiram  Corson. 

1869  Swarthmore  College Professor  A.  C.  Humphreys. 

1876  Johns  Hopkins  University President  Kirby  Flower  Smith. 

1880  Maryland  Agricultural  College President  R.  W.  Silvester. 

1883  The  Woman’s  College  of  Baltimore.  .President  E.  A.  Noble,  D.  D. 
1891  Leland  Stanford  University Dr.  Reinhart  Cowles. 

ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 

Reading  of  Scripture  by Rev.  David  H.  Martin,  Laurel,  Md. 

Invocation  by Rev.  E.  B.  Niver,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Music. 

ADDRESS 

By  General  J.  Franklin  Bell,  U.  S.  A. 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Faculty,  Members  of  the  Alumni,  Gradu- 
ating Class,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

When  I was  a young  boy,  I once  paid  a compliment  to  an  old  gentle- 
man of  whom  I was  very  fond,  and  patting  me  on  the  shoulder,  he 
replied : ‘ ‘ Well,  my  boy,  that  is  flattery,  but  I like  it ; I like  it.  ’ ’ 

In  the  same  way,  I want  you  to  know  that  I like  and  appreciate  the 
generosity  of  your  reception,  because  it  is  inspired  at  least  by  a desire 
to  be  kind  and  courteous. 

Being  a soldier,  I presume  I am  expected  to  talk  of  war,  and  like  all 
soldiers  who  have  had  experience,  I am  not  a glutton  for  war.  The 
misery,  suffering  and  hardships  inflicted  on  the  innocent  and  inoffensive 
should  make  war  odious  in  the  mind  of  any  right  thinking  man.  War 
is  not  odious  to  the  soldier  for  any  other  reason.  But  no  man  with  a 
heart  worth  having  can  see  the  effects  of  war  without  hoping  we  never 
shall  have  war  again. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  not  living  in  paradise,  and  the 
millennium  has  not  yet  come.  Until  the  millennium  does  come,  un- 
fortunately, there  will  be  occasions  when  men  who  love  their  country, 
who  honor  its  institutions,  who  are  willing  to  defend  its  interest,  feel 
they  can  do  these  things  in  no  other  way  than  by  taking  up  arms. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


39 


We  frequently  hear  people  advocating  arbitration,  and  advocating 
disarmament.  Though  I am  a soldier,  I yield  to  none  on  this  proposition. 
Beyond  the  shadow  of  a doubt,  arbitration  will  reduce  the  number  of 
wars  very  materially.  With  the  advance  of  civilization,  and  with  the 
increase  of  the  sympathetic  feelings  w'hich  nations  have  for  each  other, 
it  has  become  impossible  for  nations  to  go  to  war  with  each  other 
except  to  uphold  national  honor  and  national  interests.  Nations,  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  are  not  altruistic,  in  fact,  the  government  of  a nation 
is  expected  to  look  after  the  interests  of  its  own  people,  and  it  would 
not  be  a government  worthy  of  the  name  if  it  thought  of  sacrificing 
the  interests  of  its  own  people  on  behalf  of  those  of  any  other  nation. 
The  United  States  comes  nearer  being  an  altruistic  nation  than  any  other 
on  earth.  The  United  States  frequently  sacrifices  its  own  interests 
when  it  means  simply  money  for  the  sake  of  the  interests  of  other 
people.  It  has  done  this  more  than  once. 

There  will  always  arise  occasions  when  disputes  cannot  be  settled  in 
any  other  way  than  by  appealing  to  the  sword.  Let  us  consider  for  a 
moment.  A band  of  colonists  once  raised  the  cry  that  taxation  without 
representation  was  wrong.  Suppose  that  question  had  been  submitted 
to  arbitration.  Arbitration  boards  are  sworn  to  decide  according  to 
the  law.  Why,  there  was  no  law  which  made  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation illegal.  Taxation  without  representation,  at  that  time,  ex- 
isted all  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  That  question  could  not  have  been 
decided  except  against  the  colonists.  Does  any  one  doubt  the  beneficence 
of  the  result  of  the  appeal  to  arms  on  that  occasion? 

Take  a later  case,  when  a nation  divided  on  the  theory  that  it 
was  wrong  for  one  man  to  own  another.  Could  that  question  have  been 
settled  by  arbitration?  Had  not  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  just  decided  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  that  slaves  were  property 
legally  owned.  I believe  there  is  not  one  in  this  audience  who  will 
dispute  the  wisdom  and  the  beneficence  of  the  decision  upon  that  ques- 
tion. 

Come  closer  to  our  own  day.  Suppose  the  difficulty  between  the 
United  States  and  Spain  had  been  submitted  to  arbitration.  Had  the 
United  States,  on  any  other  basis,  except  to  secure  to  humanity  its  dues, 
the  right  to  interfere  in  the  administration  of  Cuba?  Could  any  board 
of  arbitrators  have  rendered  any  other  decision  except  that  Spain  had 
a right  to  govern  her  own  colony  in  her  own  way.  Does  any  one  doubt 
for  an  instant  the  beneficent  results  of  an  appeal  to  arms  on  that 
occasion?  There  is  only  one  way  yet  known  in  which  such  questions 
can  be  settled  and  that  way  is  by  an  appeal  to  the  sword. 


National  interests  usually  resolve  themselves  into  questions  of  trade. 
It  takes  a very  strong  justification  for  nations  to  go  to  war  with  each 
other  but  every  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  is  considered  by  every 
man,  by  every  woman,  and  by  every  enlightened  person  as  being  per- 
fectly justified  in  fighting  for  the  protection  of  its  own  interests.  A 


40 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


nation  that  has  not  the  courage  to  fight  for  its  own  rights  will  not  long 
retain  any  rights  to  fight  for,  and  ought  to  go  out  of  existence.  And 
so  there  is  no  disgrace,  there  is  no  discredit  attached  to  the  profession 
of  a man  who  offers  himself  to  serve  his  country  when  the  country  needs 
his  services. 

Eeferring  to  the  question  of  trade,  I will  cite  a few  instances  which 
are  applicable.  For  instance,  if  England  today  had  its  commerce  with 
the  outside  world  completely  cut  off,  the  people  of  that  island  would 
begin  to  suffer  with  hunger,  and  if  it  were  cut  off  for  six  weeks,  the 
people  would  begin  to  die  of  starvation.  If  the  trade  of  England  wrere 
destroyed,  and  it  were  not  able  to  resume  that  trade,  all  manufactur- 
ing industries — everything  would  have  to  stop  work,  it  would  not  be 
more  than  six  months  before  all  the  people  would  be  starving,  and 
why?  Because  the  country  has  become  so  densely  overpopulated.  Now, 
there  are  other  countries  which  might  be  said  to  be  in  the  same  category. 

We  have  such  a boundless  country  that  we  do  not  stop  to  think  that 
some  time  possibly  we  will  be  overpopulated  ourselves.  But  take  the 
statistics  of  the  Immigration  Bureau,  and  note  the  annual  increase  of 
population;  count  the  number  of  acres  of  arable  land  we  have,  and  it 
is  only  a question  of  simple  arithmetic  to  ascertain  how  soon  this  country 
will  become  such. 

Are  we  looking  to  such  questions?  Are  we  pursuing  a wise  policy  in 
order  to  lay  a foundation  of  such  power  as  will  enable  us  to  stand  in 
the  markets  of  the  wrorld  the  equal  of  any  other  nation?  Ladies  and 
gentlemen,  in  such  questions  one  needs  to  be  especially  forewarned. 

We  are  all  proud  of  the  trip  which  our  fleet  recently  made  around 
the  world,  and  do  you  know  if  it  had  been  in  a time  of  war  it  is 
exceedingly  doubtful  if  the  fleet  could  have  gone  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  at  all,  and  if  it  had  succeeded  it  would  not  have  arrived  in 
good  condition;  because  in  time  of  war  we  cannot  hire  colliers  from 
other  nations  to  carry  coal;  because  in  time  of  war  we  cannot  enter 
neutral  ports,  nor  can  we  buy  coal  even  from  our  best  friends. 

Is  there  any  other  nation  that  could  have  performed  that  feat?  Yes — 
one — England,  only.  England  took  possession  of  the  Falkland  Islands 
and  she  has  had  to  fight  several  wars  to  retain  them,  but  she  saw  in 
those  islands  an  invaluable  possession,  and  now  she  is  building  there  a 
first-class  naval  station. 

Nations  must  see  into  the  future  and  must  take  cognizance  of  what 
must  happen  in  the  future.  . . . Look  at  Alaska.  Everybody  thought 
that  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  was  an  idiot  when  he  paid 
$7,000,000  for  this  waste  of  ice  and  snow  which  in  the  last  ten  years 
has  produced  something  like  $300,000,000. 


There  are  two  places  where  the  United  States  may  some  time  have  to 
fight  in  order  to  get  its  share  of  the  trade.  There  may  be  others  but  I 
mention  these  two.  South  America  and  China.  I will  not  consider 
South  America.  Let  us  consider,  for  a moment,  China.  Do  you  know 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


41 


that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  foreign  trade  of  China  has  only 
been  scratched  along  the  coast,  that  the  harbor  of  Hong  Kong  has  the 
largest  tonnage  in  the  world.  Up  to  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  China 
had  not  a railway  leading  into  the  interior  of  the  Empire.  All  the 
goods  and  articles  of  commerce  that  were  transported  to  the  interior  of 
China  were  conveyed  on  wheelbarrows  pushed  by  men.  They  were  so  in- 
fluential that  they  have  held  back  the  railway  development  of  China. 
The  trade,  now,  however,  is  increasing  in  leaps  and  bounds. 

Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  do  you  imagine  that  the  rest  of  the  world 
is  going  to  give  the  United  States  its  share  of  that  trade  for  nothing, 
just  as  a free  gift?  The  United  States  has  got  to  be  prepared  to  de- 
mand and  get  it  by  having  power  behind  its  demands  to  enforce  them. 
No  question  about  that,  and  so  with  the  trade  in  South  America. 

Now  what  has  this  to  do  with  this  Institution?  Well,  it  has  this, 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  inherited  a natural 
suspicion  and  a lack  of  confidence  and  distrust  in  a standing  army.  But 
we  need  military  force.  We  need  something  which  the  Government  can 
call  on  when  necessity  arises.  Whence  must  it  come?  From  the  citizen 
soldier.  The  time  is  pressing  when  it  is  necessary  to  have  professional 
soldiers.  The  profession  of  a soldier  is  one  that  has  to  be  learned,  and 
the  best  time  to  learn  it  is  while  one  is  young.  Now,  this  Institution  has 
been,  for  many  years,  turning  out  graduates  who,  when  called  on  to  take 
a full  part  in  any  military  affair,  have  never  been  found  wanting.  . . . 
Let  me  say  that  if  West  Point,  which  is  universally  acknowledged  to 
be  the  best  military  school  on  earth,  had  had  the  difficulties  to  contend 
with  which  this  Institution  has  successfully  overcome,  who  can  assert 
that  its  product  would  have  been  more  creditable  than  has  been  the  pro- 
duct of  this  Institution?  You  have  indeed  much  to  be  proud  of.  . . . 
Now,  I have  mentioned  the  citizen  soldier — mentioned  the  excellent  work 
which  this  Institution  has  for  many  years  been  doing,  and  what  does 
that  mean?  It  means  simply  this,  that  a man  in  order  to  be  an  officer 
in  the  army  must  be  educated  for  the  business.  And  it  is  a pity  if  the 
authorities  of  this  great  State  do  not  realize  what  an  asset  they  have  in 
these  young  men  in  making  officers  and  soldiers. 

Last  year,  assisted  by  Ur.  Fell  and  the  presidents  of  a few  other  insti- 
tutions, we  drafted  a law  to  be  introduced  in  Congress,  which  proposed 
to  pay  for  each  of  a hundred  students  . . . and  only  five  institutions 
were  selected  because  of  their  character,  and  because  of  the  value  of 
the  work  they  were  doing,  and  this  Institution  was  one  of  the  five. 

I am  sure  you  will  excuse  me  for  closing  with  one  anecdote  that  has 
a flavor  which  will  be  recognized  here.  A young  negro  girl  went  with 
her  mistress  from  the  South  to  a Northern  watering  place,  and  soon 
after  her  arrival  was  invited  to  a ball.  Upon  her  return  from  the  ball 
her  mistress  saw  that  she  was  displeased  about  something,  so  she  said 
to  her,  “ Why,  Maria,  what  is  the  matter?  What  are  you  so  put  out 
about ?”  ‘ 1 Why, ” said  Maria,  “ one  of  dem  black  niggers  done  in- 


42 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


suited  me.  He  came  up  to  me  and  asked  me,  ‘ Miss  Maria,  ain’t  your 
programe  done  been  full  yet,’  and  I ’clare  to  goodness,  I had  eaten  only 
one  plate  of  ice  cream.  ’ ’ 

Now,  observing  that  your  programme  is  full,  I would  be  an  inhuman 
wretch  if  I took  more  of  your  time. 

Music. 

Then  followed  brief  congratulatory  addresses,  as  follows: 

By  Professor  Hall,  William  and  Mary  College. 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  Faculty,  Students 
of  the  College,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I bring  you  today  the  greetings  and  congratulations  of  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary.  The  ancient  College  of  King  William  and  Queen 
Mary  tenderly  greets  King  William’s  School  now  developed  into  St. 
John’s  College.  Williamsburg,  the  City  of  William,  greets  Annapolis,, 
the  City  of  Anne.  Leah  greets  Rachel. 

Many  are  the  links  that  bind  together  our  two  ancient  colleges  and 
our  venerable  Commonwealths.  We  are  sprung  from  the  same  stock.  We 
hold  the  same  traditions.  In  your  veins  as  in  ours  courses  the  blood  of 
the  Cavalier  and  the  Puritan,  those  two  mighty  civilizations  which  have 
together  built  up  our  great  republic.  Francis  Nicholson,  one  of  the 
founders  of  William  and  Mary,  was  the  founder  of  King  William’s 
School.  He  moved  your  Capital  from  St.  Mary’s  to  Providence,  now 
Annapolis;  ours,  from  Jamestown  to  Williamsburg.  He  was  twice 
Deputy  Governor  of  Virginia,  and,  after  his  ardent  temperament  stirred 
up  great  commotion  in  Virginia,  was  sent  here  as  your  Governor.  Ardent 
in  politics  and  in  religion,  he  was  also  a most  ardent  lover.  Rejected 
by  one  of  the  belles  of  Virginia,  he  swore  that,  if  she  married  any  other 
man,  he  would  kill  three  men:  the  groom,  the  minister  that  performed 
the  marriage  ceremony,  and  the  justice  that  issued  the  license.  Suspect- 
ing that  the  minister  of  Hampton  Parish  favored  another  suitor,  he 
walked  up  to  him  one  day  and  knocked  off  his  hat. 

Again  I say  William  and  Mary  sends  her  love  and  her  greetings  to 
her  younger  sister,  St.  John ’s  College.  The  mother  of  colleges,  in  her 
antecedents  older  than  even  Harvard  herself,  feels  a just  pride  today  in 
this  gathering  of  her  daughters.  She  congratulates  them  all,  wishing 
them  God-speed.  Especially  tender  is  her  feeling  towards  this  noble 
seat  of  learning  founded  by  the  colonial  fathers  of  Maryland.  Her  heart 
warms  toivards  the  small  college,  who  like  herself  has  been  engaged 
in  the  making  of  men  and  the  creation  of  great  ideas  and  great  ideals. 
Jefferson,  you  remember,  tells  us,  1 ‘ Whatever  I am,  I owe  it  to  William 
Small,  professor  in  William  and  Mary  College.” 

In  a recent  issue  of  one  of  our  magazines,  the  question  was  raised,. 
” Shall  the  small  college  live?”  We  are  often  told  that  the  small  col- 
lege must  die,  must  be  squeezed  out  of  existence  between  the  high  school 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


43 


and  the  university.  God  forbid!  Let  not  such  a character-building 
force  perish  from  the  earth.  Is  there  room  for  the  small  college?  Does 
it  justify  its  right  of  existence?  Yes,  we  answer,  a thousand  times, 
Yes.  The  small  college  shall  live,  as  long  as  Dartmouth  has  her  Webster, 
St.  John’s  her  Key  and  her  Pinkney,  William  and  Mary  her  Jefferson, 
her  Monroe  and  her  Marshall,  and  as  long  as  men  are  not  manufactured 
but  created  by  the  breath  of  God. 

By  President  Joseph  Himmel,  S.  J.,  Georgetown  University. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure,  in  bearing  the  congratulations  of  George- 
town University  to  St.  John’s  College,  on  the  completion  of  125  years 
of  service,  to  dwell  on  the  tie  which,  it  seems  to  me,  binds  the  two  insti- 
tutions together  in  an  exceptional  way. 

Not  only  am  I,  the  President  of  Georgetown  University,  also  an 
alumnus  of  St.  John ’s  College,  but,  in  the  years  gone  by,  when  the  Jesuit 
College  at  Georgetown  was  founded,  it  was  by  Archbishop  Carroll,  who 
was  also  the  first  president  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  of 
St.  John’s  College. 

It  is,  therefore,  with  more  than  formal  courtesy  that  the  institution 
over  which  I preside  sends  her  greetings:  It  is,  rather,  as  a sister  col- 
lege, claiming  a kind  of  blood  relationship  in  origin,  typifying  that  spirit 
of  tolerance  for  which  Maryland  has  become  a byword  of  honor  in  the 
land. 

Georgetown,  therefore,  of  all  the  colleges  honoring  the  occasion,  has, 
possibly,  most  reason  to  praise  and  thank  the  Providence  which  has  given 
St.  John’s  strength  to  endure  for  so  many  years,  and  to  wish  for  her 
a glorious  future. 

By  Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin,  Columbia  University. 

In  1754,  just  thirty  years  before  this  College  came  into  existence, 
King’s  College  was  founded  in  New  York  City.  Subsequent  to  the  times 
of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  that  institution  of  learning  become 
Columbia  University. 

I have  the  honor  on  behalf  of  your  older  sister  in  learning  to  extend 
to  you  cordial  congratulations  on  your  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth 
Anniversary.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  President  Butler  found  him- 
self unable  to  be  present  on  this  occasion,  but  I am  sure  that  were  he 
here  he  would  recall  with  words  of  graceful  appreciation  the  fact  that 
Columbia’s  greatest  president,  Frederick  A.  P.  Barnard,  was  an  honorary 
alumnus  of  this  college.  As  one  who  has  followed  science  as  a profes- 
sion I cannot  but  congratulate  you  on  the  fact  that  John  Henry  Alex- 
ander, perhaps  the  foremost  of  those  among  your  Alumni  who  have  pur- 
sued science  was  a friend  and  contemporary  of  President  Barnard’s. 

I have  the  honor  on  behalf  of  my  Alma  Mater  to  extend  her  most 
hearty  felicitations  to  you  on  this  occasion. 


44 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Dr.  George  Edward  Keed,  President  of  Dickinson  College. 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Members  of  the 
Alumni,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  Annapolis: 

I have  been  in  Annapolis  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours  now,  with  very 
little  sleep.  During  this  time,  I have  heard  a great  deal  about  St.  John’s 
College.  And  I have  very  much  the  feeling  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  when 
she  had  seen  all  of  Solomon’s  wisdom,  and  all  his  glory, — the  glory  of 
his  kingdom.  All  that  she  could  do  was  to  bow  her  head  and  say  that 
the  half  had  not  been  told.  And  that  is  the  feeling  I have,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, after  listening  for  twenty-four  hours  on  this  occasion.  And  I am 
persuaded  that  the  half  has  not  been  told  about  St.  John’s. 

When  we  walk  around  these  ancient  buildings,  we  feel  that  we  are  in 
the  presence  of  antiquity.  St.  John’s  is  claiming  about  everything  for 
the  future,  and  General  Bell  put  a climax  on  the  whole  business  when 
he  said  that  West  Point  was  hardly  in  it  with  St.  John’s.  Ladies  and 
gentlemen,  I would  like  to  know  what  else  there  is  to  live  for;  and  the 
St.  John’s  boys,  these  undergraduates,  sit  here  and  take  it  all  in  as  if  it 
were  true.  They  believe  it  from  the  depth  of  their  soul. 

I heard  a story  some  time  ago  of  a St.  John’s  man  who  had  a dream. 
He  dreamed  of  paradise.  He  asked  the  keeper  at  the  pearly  gates  for 
admission  to  heaven.  The  gate  keeper  said  to  him:  “ Where  do  you 
hail  from?”  ‘ 1 Prom  St.  John’s  College,  Annapolis.”  “ Well,  you 
can’t  come  in  here.”  He  felt  very  badly,  but  stood  by  and  watched 
others  as  they  came  up.  Soon  a man  came  up  and  asked  for  admission. 
“ Where  are  you  from?”  “ I am  a Harvard  man.”  “ Well  there  are 
plenty  of  Harvard  men  in  here.  You  may  come  in.”  Then  he  saw  a 
Yale  man  come  up.  1 ‘ Yes,  you  can  come  in.  There  are  plenty  of  Yale 
men  in  here.”  Then  a Princeton  man  came  up,  and  one  from  William 
and  Mary,  only  one;  then  one  from  Dickinson,  and  all  were  admitted. 
The  St.  John’s  man  then  walked  up  to  the  keeper  and  asked  how  it  was 
that  a Harvard  man,  a Yale  man,  a Princeton  man,  a William  and  Mary 
man,  a Dickinson  man,  all  could  enter  but  not  one  from  St.  John’s. 
11  Well,  sir,”  said  the  guardian,  11  we  only  admit  here  men  whose  con- 
dition require  further  improvement.  ’ ’ 

The  College  which  I have  the  honor  to  serve  celebrated  her  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary  a year  ago,  and  the  occasion  was 
graced,  more  than  graced,  it  was  adorned  by  the  presence  of  Dr.  Fell, 
and  very  reluctantly  Dr.  Fell  yielded  the  point  that  Dickinson  was  one 
year  older  than  St.  Johns.  . . . 

Now,  I desire  on  the  part  of  Dickinson  College,  to  express  congratu- 
lations on  the  history  of  these  125  years,  and  the  great  achievements 
you  have  successfully  performed.  Dr.  Fell,  on  this  occasion,  has  received 
a great  deal  of  praise,  and  I believe  he  must  have  grown  fifteen  years 
younger  during  the  last  twenty-four  hours  on  account  of  the  many  good 
things  said  concerning  him  and  his  administration.  ...  I am  a married 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


45 


man.  A wife  is  an  expensive  luxury  but  a good  thing.  I think  you 
ought  to  rise  and  give  a cheer  for  the  President’s  wife.  I am  convinced 
that  she  is  the  power  behind  the  throne.  The  fame  and  glory  belongs 
to  her  as  well  as  to  Dr.  Fell. 

Now,  just  one  word  for  the  old  College.  I congratulate  the  old  Col- 
lege because  it  seems  to  stand  for  some  good.  You  have  been  a Col- 
lege of  the  old  fashioned  sort.  I heard  with  regret  that  you  are  going 
to  introduec  engineering  in  this  College.  . . . 

But  we  want  men  of  culture — that  kind  of  culture  that  you  get  in 
colleges  like  St.  John’s.  We  want  to  develop  men  who  shall  be  splendid 
men  in  the  great  qualities  of  leadership  in  the  State  of  Maryland.  Men 
who  are  not  working  for  money  primarily  but  working  for  the  good  of 
humanity  and  content  to  lead  lives  of  comparative  poverty  as  gentlemen. 

I am  glad  to  feel  that  St.  John’s  stands  for  another  thing.  In  the 
historical  sketch  concerning  the  College  on  the  first  page  of  this 
pamphlet  I read  that  an  Act  was  passed  in  1671  by  the  Legislature  for 
“ founding  and  erecting  a school  or  college  for  the  education  of  youth 
in  learning  and  virtue  ” and  further  that  the  Act  recites  that  the  school 
was  established  for  ‘ ‘ the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  and  education  of 
youth  in  good  letters  and  manners.” 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I hope  the  day  will  never  come  in  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  the  country  when  the  great  and  essential  principles 
of  religion  shall  fail  to  be  emphasized  in  the  life  of  these  institutions. 
We  cannot  put  too  much  emphasis  on  the  importance  of  religion  in  the 
life  of  colleges  and  universities  of  the  United  States,  and  I hope  St. 
John ’s  will  emphasize  this  in  the  future. 

. . . The  hero  of  college  life  in  our  days  apparently  is  not  the  success- 
ful scholar,  not  the  valedictorian,  but  the  man  who  is  the  best  baseball 
player,  or  the  man  who  can  make  the  best  center  rush  on  the  football 
team.  The  boys  will  get  up  at  two  o’clock  in  the  morning  to  welcome 
the  return  of  their  victorious  team,  but  where  is  the  one  who  will  put 
himself  to  any  inconvenience  to  go  and  listen  to  a student  deliver  an 
excellent  address.  Brawn  is  good  but  brain  is  a dozen  times  better. 
We  want  good,  stout  bodies,  but  above  all  exalt  a high  intellectual 
standard. 

St.  John’s  though  has  stood  for  these  things  in  the  past  and  I trust 
she  will  stand  for  them  in  the  future. 

I present  you  the  congratulations  of  the  venerable  College  which 
I serve. 

President  Henry  Sturgis  Drinker,  of  Lehigh  University,  tendered  the 
following  letter  of  congratulation: 

II  Lehigh  University  extends  cordial  greeting  and  congratulations  to 
St.  John’s  College,  on  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 
of  the  granting  of  her  present  charter,  and  sends  hearty  wishes  for  a 


46 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


long  continuance  of  the  good  work  that  St.  John ’s  has  done  in  the  past 
for  the  spread  of  culture  and  the  promotion  of  true  scholarship  in  our 
land. 

Henry  S.  Drinker, 

President.  ’ ’ 


And  said: 

I have  been  much  impressed  by  what  I have  seen  here,  and  by  what 
I have  heard  in  the  previous  addresses  of  the  spirit  of  high  honor, 
patriotic  impulse,  and  sterling  worth,  pervading  St.  John’s  College,  a 
spirit  that  has  come  down  as  a precious  heritage  from  the  past,  and  that 
is  cherished  as  an  asset, — a hall-mark, — of  surpassing  value  today. 

It  was,  I think,  Lord  Eldon  (and  my  brethren  of  the  Bar  here  present 
will  correct  me  if  I misquote),  who  on  being  consulted  as  to  the  fitness 
of  a candidate  for  a Judgeship,  said:  “ The  first  requisite  of  a good 
Judge  is  that  he  shall  be  a gentleman;  if  he  knows  a little  law,  so  much 
the  better.” 

The  students  of  St.  John’s  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  Southern  hos- 
pitality, honor,  and  right-doing,  in  an  Institution  with  a record  inspiring 
high  ideals  in  the  student-body  and  Alumni.  All  honor  to  Old  St.  John’s 
for  her  wrork  in  the  past  and  example  in  the  present.  We,  of  the 
younger  generation  of  colleges  are  honored  to  be  here  today  to  sit  at 
her  feet  and  draw  inspiration  and  encouragement  from  her  example 
and  record. 

Professor  Hiram  Corson,  representing  Cornell  bniversity,  presented 
the  following  beautifully  inscribed  in  colors  on  sheepskin: 

“ Cornell  University,  by  her  representative,  Professor  Hiram  Corson, 
sends  cordial  greetings  to  St.  John’s  College  on  the  happy  occasion  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary  of  the  granting  of  her 
Charter. 

Wm.  A.  Hammond, 
Secretary  of  the  Faculty .” 

“Ithaca,  New  York,  June,  1909.” 

By  Professor  Kirby  Flower  Smith,  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

In  accepting  the  honor  of  an  invitation  to  the  ceremonies  in  cele- 
bration of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary  of  your 
school  of  learning  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  whom  I have  the 
pleasure  of  representing  upon  this  occasion,  desires  to  pay  an  especial 
tribute  of  interest  and  regard  to  the  sister  institution  whose  brilliant 
sons  have  so  often  come  to  us  and  won  further  distinction  in  later  years. 

To  your  loyal  Alumni,  to  your  many  friends,  to  all  who  rejoice  in  a 
success  w^ell  earned,  the  tale  of  your  struggles  and  triumphs,  the  living 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


47 


memory  of  those  dauntless  souls  of  other  days  by  whom  your  long  and 
honorable  history  is  rendered  the  more  illustrious,  must  needs  be  a 
lesson,  a possession  and  an  inspiration. 

We  esteem  it  a privilege  to  assure  you  of  our  hearty  sympathy  with 
your  pride  and  joy  on  this  memorable  occasion  and  of  our  earnest 
wishes  for  the  ever  increasing  prosperity  of  your  institution  in  the  years 
yet  to  come. 

By  Professor  James  Boy  Micou,  Washington  College. 

Mr.  President , Visitors  and  Governors  of  St.  John’s: 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  be  today  the  bearer  to  St.  John’s  of 
the  hearty  good  wishes  of  Washington  College. 

Every  school  boy  reads  in  his  Cicero  that  all  the  arts  which  make  for 
culture  have  a common  bond  and  are  united  by  a kind  of  kinship. 

We,  therefore,  who  are  priests  in  the  temples  of  culture,  must  neces- 
sarily feel  the  warmest  interest  in  the  welfare  of  every  shrine  where 
incense  is  being  offered  to  the  gods  of  truth  and  wisdom. 

But  if  this  feeling  of  brotherhood  did  not  exist  between  all  of  our 
colleges,  certainly  it  should  exist  between  Washington  and  St.  John’s. 
Chartered  by  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  within  the  short  space  of  two 
years  of  each  other,  designed  to  be  but  parts  of  one  whole,  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland,  situated  but  a few  miles  apart,  it  is  reasonable 
and  right  that  each  should  rejoice  at  any  success  that  the  other  may 
achieve  and  bemourn  any  loss  that  it  may  suffer. 

When,  therefore,  during  the  past  winter  we  saw  in  the  papers  the 
startling  headline  “ St.  John’s  College  Destroyed  by  Fire,”  we  were 
much  grieved,  fearing,  in  language  of  the  historian,  that  one  of  ‘ ‘ eyes 
of  Greece  had  been  put  out.  ’ ’ 

It  was  with  great  relief  that  we  learned  on  further  investigation  that 
only  McDowell  Hall  had  been  consumed  and  that  it  would  soon  rise 
again  enlarged  and  beautified.  Certainly  this  happy  celebration  removes 
all  uneasiness  as  to  the  future  of  St.  John’s  College. 

As  she  has  sat  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  beside  the  spark- 
ling waters  of  the  beautiful  Severn,  giving  a mother’s  care  to  all  who 
have  come  to  seek  her  maternal  blessing,  so,  no  doubt,  for  many  genera- 
tions she  will  continue  to  teach  that  the  life  is  more  than  meat  and  the 
body  more  than  raiment  and  that  any  land  fares  ill  where  wealth 
accumulates  and  men  decay.  And  while  she  is  adding  to  the  already 
long  list  of  her  sons  who  have  gone  forth  to  show  by  their  lives  as 
jurists,  legislators  and  statesmen  the  value  of  her  teachings,  none  of  her 
sister  colleges  will  wish  a heartier  God-speed  than  will  Washington. 


Music. 


48 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Aiuarimtg  uf  (£crtt8rat?a  of  liatinrlintt  attfc  flrizfB 

Certificates  of  Distinction  and  Prizes  were  awarded,  and  Degrees 
conferred,  as  follows,  by  President  Fell: 

Prize  of  $25.00  offered  by  the  Alumni  Association  of  St.  John’s  Col- 
lege to  the  Senior  Class  for  the  best  Original  Oration,  awarded  to 
William  B.  Ennis,  Annapolis,  Md. 

President’s  Medal  for  Oratory  to  members  of  the  Junior  Class, 
awarded  to  Webster  S.  Blades,  Choptank,  Md. 

President’s  Prize  for  Biblical  Study,  awarded  to  L.  Claude  Bailey, 
Quantico,  Md. 

Prize  of  $100.00  for  Excellence  in  Mathematics  (Freshman  Class), 
awarded  to  Philip  Langdon  Alger,  Annapolis,  Md. 

Music. 

Conferring  of  Degrees  on  Graduates. 

Bachelor  of  Arts. 


Allan  II.  St.  Clair,  First  Honor Rocks,  Md. 

Charles  Weaver,  Second  Honor Middletown,  Md. 

Lloyd  C.  Bartgis Myersville,  Md. 

J.  Irvin  Dawson Leonardtown,  Md. 

J.  Alexander  Kendrick Ripley,  Md. 

Arthur  Rufus  Laney Cumberland,  Md. 

Harrison  McAlpine Lonaconing,  Md. 

Edwin  Warfield Woodbine,  Md. 


Bachelor  of  Science. 

William  B.  Ennis 

Clarence  T.  Johnson 

R.  Elmer  Jones 

Albert  Knox  Starlings 


Annapolis,  Md. 
. . . Laurel,  Md. 
. .Lynch’s,  Md. 
Annapolis,  Md. 


J.  Morgan  Read 

Samuel  M.  Wagaman 
Emmet  Earl  Hearn.  . 

Alfred  Houston 

Lee  I.  Hecht 


Master  of  Arts. 

B.  A.,  1882;  D.  D.,  1900. 

B.  A.,  1893;  M.  D.,  1901. 

B.  A.,  1906;  LL.  B.,  1909. 

B.  A.,  1906;  LL.  B.,  1909. 

B.  A.,  1907;  LL.  B.,  1909. 


Conferring  of  Honorary  Degrees. 

The  Honorary  Degrees  conferred,  and  those  receiving  them  follow 
in  order: 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


49 


Master  of  Arts. 

Samuel  Maddox,  Esq Washington,  D.  C. 

Prof.  C.  W.  Stryker Annapolis,  Md. 

Doctor  of  Letters. 

Prof.  Eugene  M.  Hays San  Antonio,  Texas. 

Prof.  E.  J.  Clarke Chestertown,  Md. 

Doctor  of  Science. 

Prof.  B.  V.  Cecil Annapolis,  Md. 

Prof.  Francis  LeRoy  Satterlee New  York  City. 

Doctor  of  Laws. 

Hon.  Thomas  J.  Morris 

Randolph  Winslow,  M.  D 

Hon.  Francis  Lyne  Stetson 

Hon.  Wm.  Barclay  Parsons 

James  T.  Woodward,  Esq 

Doctor  of  Divinity. 


Rev.  E.  B.  Niver Baltimore. 

Rev.  David  H.  Martin Laurel,  Md. 

Rev.  J.  Gardner  Murray Baltimore. 


In  presenting  the  candidates  for  the  Honorary  Degree  of  Master  of 
Arts,  Professor  Waddell  said: 

Mr.  President,  I have  the  honor  to  present  as  a candidate  for  the 
Honorary  Degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  Clarence  W.  Stryker,  Bachelor  of 
Arts  of  Union  College,  New  York.  In  offering  his  name  for  this  degree 
the  Faculty  wishes  to  testify  to  the  efficient  and  conscientious  services 
rendered  by  him. 

And,  also,  I have  the  honor  to  present  as  a candidate  for  the  Honorary 
Degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  Samuel  Maddox,  of  Washington,  who  was 
graduated  from  this  College  in  1871,  and  has  since  won  distinction  for 
himself  in  the  practice  of  Law  at  the  Bar  of  Washington,  D.  C.  He  has 
faithfully  manifested  his  interest  in  his  Alma  Mater,  and  has  been  ready 
to  serve  her  whenever  he  has  had  opportunity  to  do  so. 

Professor  Stryker  said:  Mr.  President,  I have  the  honor  to  present 
to  you  Mr.  Eugene  M.  Hays,  who  was  graduated  from  St.  John's 
College  in  June,  1890,  and  received  the  Master's  Degree  in  1893.  Since 
that  time  he  has  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  education,  and  now 
holds  a very  responsible  position  in  the  West  Texas  Military  Academy 
at  San  Antonio,  Texas.  The  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  recom- 
mends him  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Letters,  in  recognition  of  his 
ability  and  usefulness. 

For  the  same  reasons  they  also  commend  to  you  for  the  Degree  of 
Doctor  of  Letters,  Mr.  Edward  Julius  Clarke,  Bachelor  of  Arts,  St. 
John's  College,  1881,  and  Master  of  Arts,  1892,  now  holding  the  Chair 
of  English  at  Washington  College,  Chestertown,  Maryland. 


Baltimore. 

Baltimore. 

New  York  City. 
New  York  City. 
New  York  City. 


50 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


Professor  Bartgis  McGlone  then  came  forward  and  said: 

Mr.  President,  I have  much  pleasure  in  presenting  Francis  LeRoy 
Satterlee,  Jr.,  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science.  He  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1903,  and  has  been  a teacher  and 
lecturer  in  physics,  radiology  and  chemistry  for  the  past  nine  years  in 
connection  with  the  University  of  New  York.  He  has  also  been  the 
inventor  of  scientific  apparatus  of  a most  original  and  useful  character 
in  the  department  of  radiology. 

In  introducing  Professor  B.  Vernon  Cecil,  Lieutenant  Iglehart  said: 
It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  present  to  you  for  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Science,  Professor  B.  Vernon  Cecil,  Bachelor  of  Arts,  1890;  Master 
of  Arts,  1897 ; Professor  of  Physics  and  Chemistry  since  1896,  and  Vice- 
President  of  St.  John’s  College. 

The  Board  of  Visitors  desires  to  express  their  appreciation  of  his 
services,  and  to  recognize  the  ability  with  which  he  has  performed  the 
duties  of  his  chair.  He  has  done  much  to  promote  the  attachment  of 
students  to  their  Alma  Mater  by  actively  aiding  them  in  their  athletic 
and  other  college  organizations. 

The  following  were  Professor  Cecil’s  remarks  in  introducing  the 
Honorable  Thomas  John  Morris: 

Mr.  President,  I have  now  the  further  pleasure  of  acting  for  the 
Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  in  presenting  to  you  the  Honorable 
Thomas  John  Morris,  of  Baltimore,  on  whom  they  wish  to  bestow  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  in  recognition  of  his  distinguished  attain- 
ments and  qualities.  Judge  Morris  is  a Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Master  of 
Arts  of  Harvard  University,  Vice-President  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  and  a member  of  the  American  Bar  Association.  He  was 
a delegate  to  the  Universal  Congress  of  Lawyers  and  Jurists  held  at 
St.  Louis  in  1904,  and  is  now  Vice-President  of  the  Enoch  Pratt  Free 
Library  of  Baltimore  and  Trustee  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  of 
the  same  city.  He  has  been  United  States  District  Judge  for  Maryland 
since  1879. 

In  presenting  Mr.  Francis  Lynde  Stetson,  Professor  Cecil  said:  I 
have  the  further  honor  of  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Francis  Lynde  Stetson, 
attorney-at-law  of  New  York  City,  whom  the  Board  of  Visitors  and 
Governors  take  pleasure  in  recommending  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws,  feeling  it  an  honor  to  create  a tie  which  will  bind  one  so  dis- 
tinguished as  he  to  the  College  as  an  alumnus.  Mr.  Stetson  is  a 
Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Master  of  Arts  of  Williams  College,  and  Bachelor 
of  Laws  of  Columbia  University.  He  is  senior  member  of  the  law  firm 
of  Stetson,  Jennings  and  Russell,  practising  in  connection  with  the 
largest  financial  interests,  and  director  in  many  important  financial 
companies.  He  is  a trustee  of  Williams  College  and  a member  of  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  and  the  Alpha  Delta  Phi  Fraternity. 

The  following  were  Professor  Cecil’s  remarks  in  introducing  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Barclay  Parsons : I have  much  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


51 


Mr.  William  Barclay  Parsons,  of  New  York  City,  Bachelor  of  Arts 
and  Civil  Engineer  of  Columbia  University.  Mr.  Parsons  was  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  New  York  Subway  from  1894  to  1905;  he  was  a mem- 
ber of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  in  1905.  Is  now  Trustee  of 
Columbia  University,  Vestryman  of  Trinity  Parish,  New  York,  and  a 
member  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  and  of  the  Institute 
of  Civil  Engineers  of  Great  Britain.  He  is  the  author  of  numerous 
professional  works,  and  is  endorsed  by  President  Butler  of  Columbia 
University  and  by  other  prominent  men. 

In  recognition  of  his  distinguished  services,  not  only  in  his  own  pro- 
fession, but  through  it  to  the  Nation  at  large,  the  Board  of  Visitors 
and  Governors  desire  to  honor  him  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

In  introducing  Dr.  Randolph  Winslow,  Professor  Cecil  said:  It  gives 
me  much  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  Dr.  Randolph  Winslow,  of  Balti- 
more, Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Master  of  Arts  of  Haverford  College,  and 
Doctor  of  Medicine  of  the  University  of  Maryland.  He  is  Professor 
of  Surgery  in  the  University  of  Maryland,  and  author  of  many  treatises 
on  different  branches  of  surgery,  as  well  as  of  interesting  articles  on 
travel,  both  in  this  and  in  foreign  countries.  He  is  noted  for  his 
skilled  practice  in  his  special  branch  of  the  science  of  medicine. 

In  presenting  him  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  the  Board  of 
Visitors  and  Governors  desire  to  recognize  the  active  interest  he  has 
manifested  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  St.  John’s  College. 

The  Honorable  Henry  D.  Harlan,  LL.  D.,  of  Baltimore,  next  arose 
and  said: 

In  the  name  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  and  Governors  of  St.  John’s 
College,  it  is  my  pleasure  to  propose  to  you  one  whose  services  to  the 
College  alone  would  entitle  him  to  recognition  at  her  hands,  but  whose 
other  distinguished  qualities  I will  briefly  outline. 

Mr.  James  T.  Woodward,  of  New  York  City,  is  the  President  of  the 
Hanover  National  Bank  and  director  in  many  financial  institutions. 
As  head  ot  the  Clearing  House  Association  of  New  York  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  controlling  the  financial  crisis  through  which  we  have 
recently  passed,  and  in  averting  national  disaster.  His  reputation  as 
a financier  is  such  that  in  negotiations  preceding  bond  sales  by  the 
United  States  Treasury,  and  in  the  determination  of  national  financial 
policies  his  views  are  influential  and  earnestly  sought  after  by  the 
Government. 

But  he  has  a broader  sphere  of  influence  than  that  which  he  fills  even 
as  the  president  of  a great  bank.  By  his  generous  gifts  to  churches 
and  to  educational  and  charitable  institutions  he  has  performed  a work 
of  inestimable  value  in  his  native  State  of  Maryland.  He  has  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  discussion  of  civic  and  national  questions  and  has 
shown  a deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education. 

Thus,  in  many  spheres  of  action,  he  has  served  well  his  day  and 
generation. 


52 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


I ask  that  the  College  mark  its  appreciation  of  this  by  conferring  on 
him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

The  Honorable  John  Wirt  Randall,  LL.  D.,  of  Annapolis,  said: 

Mr.  President,  the  honor  of  presenting  to  you  the  candidates  for  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  has  devolved  upon  me,  and  it  is  with 
great  pleasure  that  I bring  before  you  the  names  of  the  following  gentle- 
men, and  their  distinguished  characteristics,  which  have  led  the  Board 
of  Visitors  and  Governors  to  desire  to  express  their  appreciation  of 
the  same  by  bestowing  upon  them  the  degree  of  Doctor  Divinity. 

The  Rev.  Edwin  Barnes  Niver,  of  Baltimore,  is  a Bachelor  of  Arts 
of  Brown  University  (1893)  and  Master  of  Arts  of  George  Washington 
University  (1895).  He  is  also  Bachelor  of  Divinity  of  the  Episcopal 
Theological  Seminary  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts  (1892).  He  served 
as  Curate  at  St.  Paul’s  Church,  Providence,  R.  I.,  from  1892  to  1894 
and  at  Christ  Church,  Baltimore,  from  1894  to  1897.  While  still  hold- 
ing the  last  named  position,  in  1897,  he  was  elected  Rector  of  Christ 
Church,  and  is  still  holding  that  position.  He  has  been  a delegate  to 
several  of  the  General  Conventions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Missions  for  ten  years,  Trustee  of  the 
Church  Home  and  of  the  Hannah  More  Academy,  the  Diocesan  School 
for  girls,  is  Chaplain  of  the  Naval  Brigade,  and  Chairman  of  the  Trus- 
tees of  the  Cathedral  Foundation  of  the  Diocese  of  Maryland. 

The  Rev.  Daniel  H.  Martin,  of  Laurel,  Maryland,  is  a graduate  of 
Drew  Theological  Seminary  (1898)  and  is  now  a member  of  the  Balti- 
more Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  became  a 
Deacon  in  1900,  and  an  Elder  in  1902. 

The  Rev.  John  Gardner  Murray,  of  Baltimore,  received  his  early 
education  at  Wyoming  Seminary,  Kingston,  Pennsylvania,  and  his 
theological  training  at  Drew  Theological  Seminary.  He  was  made 
Deacon  in  1893  and  Priest  in  1894,  and  became  Rector  of  the  Church 
of  the  Advent,  Birmingham,  Alabama.  In  1903  he  was  called  to  the 
Rectorship  of  the  Church  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels  in  Baltimore, 
and  is  still  holding  that  position,  though  elected  to  be  the  Bishop  Co- 
adjutor of  the  Diocese  of  Maryland,  at  the  recent  Diocesan  Convention 
in  May  last.  He  has  twice  previously  been  elected  to  the  Episcopate, 
but  each  time  has  declined.  He  is  Archdeacon  of  Baltimore,  and  a 
member  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Diocese.  Having  been,  my- 
self, a member  of  the  Convention  which  elected  him  to  the  high  honor 
of  the  Episcopate,  it  is  with  exceptional  pleasure  that  I now  present 
him  to  you  for  the  distinction  of  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


53 


Ahhmss  to  (graduates 

By  Prof.  Wm.  Romaine  Newbold,  Ph.  D., 

University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  appear  before  you  today  as  a repre- 
sentative of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  to  extend  to  St.  John’s 
College  the  greetings  and  good  wishes  of  my  own  Alma  Mater  upon 
this  auspicious  occasion.  Your  President  has  already  alluded  to  the 
link  which  has  in  the  past  connected  the  two  institutions,  and  I am 
glad  to  feel  that  the  ancient  tie  is  not  forgotten,  and  that  as  an 
alumnus  and  representative  of  the  same  institution  which  gave  you 
your  first  president,  I have  received  from  you  today  a warmer  welcome 
because  of  the  services  which  he  rendered  you  and  the  honor  in  which 
you  hold  his  name. 

In  reading  over  the  history  of  St.  John’s  College  I have  been  im- 
pressed by  the  striking  parallel  between  its  foundation  and  development, 
and  that  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Both  institutions  were 
established  primarily,  not  to  train  men  for  the  ministry,  as  were  Harvard, 
Yale,  and  Princeton,  but  to  provide  a liberal  education  for  the  boys  of 
the  Colonies.  Both  were  founded  as  academies,  although  St.  John’s 
began  her  career  sixty-five  years  before  the  Academy  of  Philadelphia 
was  founded  by  Franklin.  Both  were  later  transformed  into  colleges, 
and  although  St.  John’s  has  not  yet  taken  the  third  step,  that  which 
parts  the  college  from  the  university,  it  is  only  because  that  step  has 
not  been  found  necessary  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  community  in  which 
she  is  situated. 

There  are  in  the  lives  of  institutions,  as  of  men,  occasions,  birthdays 
perhaps,  or  the  anniversaries  of  unusually  important  steps,  when  a review 
of  the  past,  and  an  appreciation  of  the  present  seem  especially  ap- 
propriate. We  have  reached  today  in  the  life  of  St.  John’s  College 
such  an  occasion,  but  you  will,  I trust,  pardon  me  if  instead  of  looking 
back  upon  those  features  in  the  history  of  St.  John’s  which  distinguish 
her  from  other  institutions  of  learning,  I direct  your  attention  rather  to 
those  which  she  shares  with  many  others,  and  especially  to  the  one  which 
she  shares  in  a peculiar  way  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  We 
both  were  founded  expressly  to  provide  a liberal  education  for  those 
who  wanted  it.  Have  we  done  so?  Are  we  doing  so?  And  what  of  the 
future?  Is  the  intention  of  our  founders  still  our  intention?  Or  are 
we  finding  it  an  unpracticable  or  at  least  a less  desirable  end  than  other 
ends  which  are  now  forced  upon  us? 

What  this  liberal  education  of  our  founders  was,  you  all,  I have  no 
doubt,  know  well.  At  that  time  practically  all  the  learning  which  had 
been  accumulated  by  man  in  the  course  of  his  long  and  toilsome  ascent 
from  barbarism  to  civilization,  and  by  far  the  greater  and  most  precious 


54 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


part  of  his  literary  and  artistics  heritage,  were  locked  up  in  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages.  As  a matter  of  course,  therefore,  the  study  of 
Latin  and  Greek  was  the  chief  element  in  a liberal  education.  The 
study  of  mathematics  was  also  admitted,  largely  because  Plato  had 
taught  that  it  afforded  the  best  available  mental  training.  Logic  was 
usually  admitted,  some  times  a little  philosophy  and  rhetoric,  and  usually 
some  study  of  the  Bible  and  Christian  evidences.  It  was  all  very  simple, 
and  probably  no  better  scheme  could  then  have  been  devised. 

But  in  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  life  of  civilized  man 
has  passed  through  changes  more  profound  and  far  reaching  than  had 
been  witnessed  by  any  thousand  years  of  his  previous  history.  Indeed, 
in  the  whole  expanse  of  recorded  history  there  are  but  two  events,  in 
the  purely  secular  field — namely  the  invention  of  printing  and  the  dis- 
covery of  America — which  exceed  in  importance  any  one  of  a half  dozen 
or  more  of  the  achievements  of  the  last  century  and  a half.  Our  great- 
grandfathers witnessed  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine  and  its  ap- 
plication to  industry,  our  grandfathers  saw  its  application  to  transporta- 
tion by  water  and  land;  our  fathers  saw  the  introduction  of  the  tele- 
graph and  the  linking  of  the  continents  by  submarine  cables;  we  have 
seen  the  development  of  electric  lighting,  and  the  invention  of  the  tele- 
phone; you  of  the  rising  generation  have  yourselves  witnessed  the  dis- 
covery of  the  wireless  telegraph;  you  have  also  witnessed  the  perfecting 
of  the  explosive  engine,  which  alone  has  made  possible  the  power  boat, 
the  automobile,  and  within  this  last  year  has  at  length  transformed  into 
reality  one  of  man’s  most  cherished  dreams, — the  mastery  of  the  air. 

Every  one  of  these  inventions,  both  directly  and  indirectly  through 
the  demands  which  it  makes  upon  other  workers,  has  created  new  indus- 
tries which  give  employment  to  vast  armies  of  men.  And  yet  I have 
not  enumerated  a hundredth,  nor  a thousandth  part  of  the  inventions, 
the  applications  of  science  to  the  satisfaction  of  old  or  of  hitherto  un- 
felt wants,  which  have  transformed  industrial  life  in  all  civilized  lands, 
and  have  called  into  being  hosts  of  workers  who  could  have  found  no 
place  in  the  relatively  simple  social  organization  of  our  ancestors.  And 
from  every  one  of  these  industries,  whether  old  or  new,  came  an  impera- 
tive demand  for  trained  men,  men  possessed  in  a very  high  degree  of 
special  knowledge,  fitted  to  lead  those  armies.  Where  were  such  men 
to  be  had?  Our  old  system  of  liberal  education  could  not  provide  them. 
If  they  were  to  be  provided  at  all,  it  must  be,  either  by  the  creation  of 
new  educational  instruments,  or  by  the  adaptation  of  the  old  to  ends 
for  which  they  were  not  originally  designed.  Both  methods  have  in 
fact  been  adopted,  but  I shall  direct  your  attention  to  the  second  only. 

The  colleges  and  universities  of  America  rose  to  the  occasion.  In 
almost  every  institution  of  our  land  new  courses,  new  departments,  were 
created,  designed  to  meet  the  new  needs,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

The  effect  of  this  step  upon  the  institutions  as  wholes  has  been 
astonishing.  Colleges  that  had  pursued  the  same  even  course  for 
generations  without  material  growth  in  numbers  of  students,  have  ex- 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


55 


panded  into  great  universities  with  hundreds  of  professors  and  thou- 
sands of  students  upon  their  rolls.  But  what  has  been  its  effect  upon 
the  old  liberal  course  of  studies  which  many  of  these  institutions  were 
originally  founded  to  provide? 

In  the  first  place,  the  older  branches  of  learning,  Greek,  Latin, 
Mathematics,  Philosophy,  have  been  immensely  benefited  by  the  intro- 
duction of  improved  methods  of  investigation  and  of  teaching.  We 
have  better  teachers,  more  courses,  better  lexicons,  grammars,  and  texts, 
and  in  consequence  it  is  possible  today  to  get  a better  knowledge  of 
these  subjects  in  any  American  college  than  it  was  even  fifty  years  ago. 

In  the  second  place,  the  older  scheme  of  studies  has  been  enlarged 
by  the  introduction  of  new  branches.  Elaborate  provisions  have  been 
made  for  the  teaching  of  English  literature  and  philology,  of  French 
and  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  Hebrew,  and  other  languages  and  litera- 
tures, of  history  in  all  its  divisions,  of  physics  and  chemistry,  of  botany 
and  zoology,  of  political  economy,  political  science,  sociology,  finance, 
international  law,  ethics,  psychology,  aesthetics,  the  fine  arts,  and  so  on. 
It  is  true  that  the  introduction  of  each  one  of  these  new  branches  into 
the  liberal  course  of  study  was  nearly  always  vigorously  contested  by 
the  representatives  of  the  older  subjects,  upon  the  ground  that  the 
new  subject  was  not  really  “ liberal.  ” The  new  subject  nearly  always 
succeeded  in  getting  in,  and  it  usually  endeavored  to  prove  its  right  to 
the  magic  adjective  “ liberal,  ” but  I am  afraid  that  these  contests 
have  to  some  extent  obscured  to  the  minds  of  many  wliat  that  word 
really  means. 

As  a result  of  this  enormous  expansion  in  the  work  offered  by  the 
college,  it  has  become  impossible  for  any  student  to  take  it  all.  The 
student  must  select  some  to  the  exclusion  of  others.  But  as  yet  no 
principle  of  selection  satisfactory  to  all  has  been  discovered.  Some 
urge  that  certain  studies  should  be  given  the  preference  because  they 
are  more  “ liberal  ” than  others,  thus  renewing  the  old  battle  at  a 
second  line  of  defenses;  others  claim  that  the  principle  of  utility  should 
rule,  that  is  to  say  that  the  student  should  select  those  studies  which 
will  be  most  useful  in  his  future  career,  and  so  on.  I shall  not  weary 
you  with  too  many  technical  details,  for  these  problems  are  familiar  to 
you  all,  and  the  two  which  I have  named  are  sufficient  to  bring  the  whole 
question  before  you. 

But  all  observers  are,  I believe,  agreed  that  in  our  modern  colleges 
the  drift  has  set  in  definitely  and  strongly  away  from  the  old  subjects 
of  study.  Latin  and  Greek  in  particular  are  neglected  more  and  more. 
Mathematics  holds  its  own  and  even  gains  ground,  because  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  essential  to  the  prosecution  of  almost  every  branch  of  physical 
science.  Rhetoric  still  has  a place;  philosophy,  which  is  my  own  subject, 
is  sharing  the  fate  of  Latin  and  Greek.  And  so  we  often  hear  it  said 
that  the  American  college  is  being  transformed  into  a quite  different  in- 
stitution, and  that  ‘ 1 liberal  culture  ’ ’ will  in  the  course  of  a generation 


56 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


or  two  be  wholly  extinct.  In  other  words,  that  we  have  definitely 
abandoned  the  ideal  which  our  founders  proposed  themselves  when  they 
created  the  institutions  for  whose  destiny  we  and  our  colleagues  are 
now  responsible. 

Is  this  charge  true?  I think  not.  A liberal  education  does  not  con- 
sist in  pursuing  any  given  group  of  studies,  be  they  Latin,  Greek,  and 
mathematics,  or  any  others  whatsoever.  Have  you  not  often  met  men 
who  had  been  trained  in  these  subjects,  and  yet  betrayed  hardly  a trace 
of  that  culture  which  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  the  proper  outcome 
of  a liberal  education?  And  on  the  other  hand,  have  you  not  often 
met  men  who  had  had  no  such  education  and  yet  possessed  cultivated 
minds  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word?  Some  subjects  are,  it  is  true, 
especially  well  adapted  to  be  made  the  means  of  conveying  a liberal 
education,  and  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics  are  among  them,  but 
they  are  not  the  only  ones.  Indeed,  there  are  scarcely  any  subjects  which 
may  not  convey  a liberal  culture  to  minds  fitted  and  anxious  to  receive  it. 
Wherein  then  lies  the  essential  distinction  between  an  education  which 
is  liberal,  and  one  which  is  not? 

It  lies,  first,  in  the  motive  which  prompts  and  sustains  its  pursuit, 
and  secondly  in  the  methods  which  that  motive  necessarily  suggests.  The 
motive,  the  only  motive  which  can  ever  lead  a man  to  liberal  education 
and  true  cultivation  of  mind,  is  the  desire  to  know,  the  spirit  of  pure 
scientific  curiosity.  The  mind  that  thirsts  for  learning  will  find  what  it 
desires  in  the  most  forbidding  surroundings,  and  will  press  its  way 
onward  to  its  end  in  face  of  the  most  formidable  difficulties.  The  mind 
that  is  dead  to  the  things  of  the  spirit,  and  alive  to  the  things  of  sense 
only,  that  cares  for  nought  but  money,  and  position,  and  power, — or 
shall  we  say,  for  athletic  distinction,  elections  to  the  best  fraternities, 
and  plenty  of  time  to  loaf  with  the  boys,  will  never  by  any  possibility 
acquire  true  cultivation.  The  best  teachers  may  spread  before  it  all 
the  learning  possessed  by  man  it  will  all  be  in  vain.  As  our  homely 
proverb  has  it,  you  can  drive  a horse  to  water,  but  you  cannot  make 
him  drink. 

In  the  second  place,  the  methods  to  which  these  motives  prompt  are 
radically  different.  Let  me  give  you  a few  illustrations.  A boy  goes 
to  college  because  his  parents  wish  him  to,  or  because  it’s  the  proper 
thing  to  do,  or  because  Tom,  Dick,  or  Harry  whom  he  knew  at  school 
have  gone  and  say  it’s  lots  of  fun  and  not  much  work,  or  because  it 
permits  him  to  delay  going  into  business  for  four  years,  or  because  he 
has  played  on  his  school  team  and  sees  a prospect  for  greater  honors 
before  a larger  audience  on  a college  team.  But  of  intellectual  interests 
he  has  none.  His  sole  aim  in  college  is  to  get  through  with  as  little 
work  as  possible.  So  he  elects  ‘ ‘ snap  ” courses,  if  such  courses  are 
to  be  had,  and  where  they  are  not,  he  devises  multifarious  ways — I need 
not  name  them — of  evading  all  honest  work.  Will  he  acquire  a liberal 
education?  And  does  it  matter  much  what  courses  he  does  or  does  not 
pursue  ? 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


57 


Another  goes  to  college  because  he  intends  to  study  medicine,  and 
thinks  a college  course  a good  preparation  for  the  medical  school.  And 
from  the  outset  he  selects  with  care  those  courses  which  will  clearly 
aid  him  in  the  study  of  medicine.  Of  French  and  German  he  will  take 
all  he  can  get,  if  he  has  sense,  for  a physician  must  keep  in  touch  with 
the  progress  of  medicine  in  other  lands;  he  will  take  chemistry,  a little 
Latin,  too,  to  help  in  writing  prescriptions,  and  perhaps  a year  of 
Greek,  because  so  many  medical  terms  are  derived  from  the  Greek;  a 
certain  amount  of  chemistry,  a good  deal  of  botany  and  zoology.  As 
for  the  rest  of  the  course, — what  interest  is  it  to  him?  Now  it  is  true 
that  this  man  stands  upon  a much  higher  plane  than  the  other.  Such 
a selection  of  courses  with  reference  to  a definite  end  is  perfectly 
justifiable;  indeed,  in  most  cases,  it  is  very  urgently  to  be  recommended. 
But  if  the  work  be  done  without  keen  intellectual  interest  in  the  work 
for  its  own  sake,  and  solely  with  a view  to  progress  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, the  student  will  reap  from  it  little  or  no  culture. 

If,  however,  a boy  goes  to  college  because  he  feels  that  he  is  ignorant 
and  desires  an  education,  because  his  mind  is  aflame  with  the  eager 
desire  to  know,  which  Aristotle  ascribes  to  all  men,  the  method  and 
spirit  of  his  work  from  beginning  to  end  will  be  different.  No  matter 
what  his  ultimate  end  may  be,  no  matter  what  the  courses  which  he 
may  decide  to  elect,  he  will  always  endeavor,  not  to  pick  up  scraps  of 
information  which  may  some  day  be  of  service,  but  to  master,  so  far 
as  the  time  and  opportunity  allow,  every  subject  which  he  undertakes. 
He  will  understand  that  in  order  to  master  any  subject  he  must  in  the 
first  place  thoroughly  learn  its  fundamental  principles,  those  great 
generalizations  by  means  of  which  the  human  mind  sums  up  and  grasps, 
once  for  all,  an  infinite  mass  of  particular  facts — such  for  example  are 
the  rules  of  grammar,  the  laws  and  formulae  of  physics  and  chemistry, 
the  theorems  of  geometry  and  algebra,  and  so  on.  He  will  follow  them 
also  into  the  field  of  their  special  application,  so  far  as  is  necessary  to 
enable  him  to  handle  them  aright.  If  he  is  studying  sciences,  which  are 
as  yet  imperfect,  such  as  history,  economics,  sociology,  botany,  zoology, 
psychology,  which  can  offer  him  but  few  sound  and  well  grounded  general 
laws,  he  will  nevertheless,  while  working  over  the  masses  of  particular 
fact  with  which  such  sciences  necessarily  deal,  ever  be  on  the  alert  to 
find  general  principles  underlying  the  mass  of  detail. 

And  when  in  any  given  field,  he  has  fairly  well  mastered  all  that  has 
been  done  by  his  predecessors,  the  same  love  of  learning  which  is  his 
dominant  motive  will  impel  him  to  press  forward  to  the  discovery  of  new 
facts  and  the  formulation  of  new  laws.  But  this  stage  belongs  of  course 
to  a later  period  in  his  development  than  that  of  which  I am  speaking. 

Is  it  not  self-evident  that  a man  who  throughout  his  college  life  has 
been  actuated  by  this  motive  and  has  employed  these  methods  will 
reap  from  his  four  years  in  college  a harvest  that  can  be  had  in  no 
other  way?  His  mind  will  not  necessarily  be  stuffed  with  facts,  but 
it  will  be  armed  with  weapons  which  will  enable  him  to  interpret  the 


58 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


past,  to  deal  with  the  present,  and  to  some  extent  to  forecast  the  future. 
The  events  and  phenomena  of  the  world  he  lives  in,  in  so  far  as  they 
fall  within  the  sphere  of  the  subjects  which  he  has  mastered,  will  not 
be  mere  isolated  facts;  each  will  be  full  of  meaning  to  him,  a link  in  a 
chain,  a mesh  in  a net,  in  brief  a member  of  a system  which  is  part  and 
parcel  of  his  mental  life.  If  this  is  not  culture,  what  can  culture  be? 

A 1 1 liberal  education,  ’ ’ ladies  and  gentlemen,  is,  then,  an  education 
in  pure  science.  For  ( ‘ science  ’ ’ is  nothing  other  than  systematized, 
generalized  knowledge,  and  ‘ ‘ pure  science  ’ ’ is  science  or  knowledge 
viewed  as  a thing  in  itself,  quite  apart  from  its  application  to  practical 
ends.  I do  not  mean  to  imply  that  science  is  forever  to  be  kept  isolated 
from  all  applications  to  practice,  or  that  there  is  anything  unworthy 
of  the  scholar’s  ideal  in  seeking  practical  application  for  his  knowledge. 
I have  often  heard  such  views  expressed;  a friend  of  mine,  for  example, 
delights  to  maintain  the  paradoxical  thesis  that  none  but  useless  studies 
are  useful  in  a liberal  education;  but  I have  no  sympathy  with  it.  Util- 
ity is  the  ultimate  standard  of  all  human  activities;  whatever  is  not 
useful  is  doomed  to  pass  away.  But  we  must  beware  of  giving  the 
words  1 1 utility  ’ ’ and  ‘ ‘ useful  ’ ’ too  narrow  or  too  low  a meaning. 
The  life  of  man  is  a complex  of  many  tastes  and  instincts,  suggesting 
diverse  and  sometimes  conflicting  ends,  and  prompting  to  many  and 
varied  forms  of  activity.  Most  of  these  ends  and  the  activities  which 
subserve  them,  from  the  aimless  play  of  childhood,  the  athletic  and  other 
interests  of  young  manhood,  to  the  struggle  for  wealth,  power,  and  dis- 
tinction of  middle  age,  have  their  proper  place  and  function  in  human 
life,  and  we  may,  I think,  believe  that  all  can  be  harmoniously  co- 
ordinated in  such  manner  as  to  lead  us  to  that  ultimate  end,  for  the 
sake  of  which  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  But  it  does  not 
by  any  means  follow  that  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  should  at  every  step 
be  governed  by  reference  to  some  such  ends  as  these.  Many  arguments 
might  be  adduced  to  prove  that  it  should  not,  but  for  the  present  I am 
concerned  with  one  only.  I take  it  for  granted  that  intellectual  culti- 
vation is  an  important  end.  It  is  not  by  any  means  the  most  important. 
The  acquisition  of  a good  moral  character,  for  example,  is  far  more 
important ; indeed  in  many  eases  even  the  acquisition  of  some  trade 
sufficient  to  earn  a livelihood  is  more  important.  But  it  certainly  is 
true  that  intellectual  cultivation  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  that  can 
be  conferred  upon  any  man  who  has  a mind  fit  to  receive  it,  and  that 
cultivation,  I maintain,  can  be  best  acquired  by  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge, without  immediate,  present  reference  to  its  possible  practical 
application. 

The  designs  of  our  founders  then  have  not  been  abandoned,  nor  have 
they  been  replaced  by  others.  They  have  been  modified  in  form  in  order 
to  meet  conditions  which  our  founders  could  not  foresee,  but  in  spirit 
and  intention  they  are  still  effective.  For  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years  the  torch  of  learning  has  burned  in  this  historic,  I had  almost 
said  consecrated,  spot;  hither  have  come  the  sons  of  Maryland  and  the 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


59 


Bons  of  other  states  as  well,  each  to  light  his  taper  at  the  sacred  flame, 
and  in  the  hands  of  many  a one  his  taper’s  slender  flame  has  burned 
ever  more  steadily  and  more  brightly  until  its  beams  reached  far  be- 
yond the  confines  of  the  State,  even  of  the  country.  The  long  line  of 
illustrious  sons  of  St.  John’s  College  sufficiently  attests  the  faithful- 
ness with  which  the  plans  of  her  founders  have  been  carried  out  in  the 
past.  Will  you,  Alumni  and  friends  of  St.  John’s,  permit  a stranger  to 
ask  you  whether  the  light  that  has  burned  here  so  long  is  to  be  dimmed 
now,  at  this  late  date,  for  want  of  your  timely  aid?  You  all  are  aware 
of  the  heavy  blow  which  fate  has  dealt  St.  John’s  in  the  course  of  the 
past  winter.  You  know  that  without  prompt  assistance  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  her,  not  only  to  increase  her  usefulness  and  to  keep  pace 
with  the  growth  of  the  State  as  she  ought  to  do,  but  even  to  maintain 
that  measure  of  service  which  she  has  been  able  to  render  you  in  the 
past.  It  is  but  a small  sum  that  she  requires, — surely  the  loyalty  of 
her  sons  and  the  pride  of  the  State  of  Maryland  in  one  of  the  most 
ancient  institutions  of  learning  now  existing  in  this  country  should 
prove  strong  enough  to  provide  that  paltry  sum. 

Gentlemen  of  the  graduating  class,  I must  in  conclusion  address  to 
you  a few  words,  more  direct,  more  personal,  than  those  which  are  meant 
for  all  friends  of  the  higher  education.  This  is  in  a very  real  sense 
your  day,  and  it  comes  to  you  but  once  in  a life  time.  In  a few  minutes 
these  exercises  will  be  over,  and  your  commencement  will  have  taken 
its  place,  with  the  four  years  of  college  life  which  have  preceded  it,  in 
memory,  and  thereforward,  forever,  it  will  all  be  but  a memory,  rapidly 
receding  into  an  ever  dimmer  past  with  the  passing  of  the  years.  Yes, 
your  college  days  are  ended.  But  do  not  fancy  that  your  education  has 
ended.  I remember,  when  my  own  senior  year  was  drawing  to  its  close, 
Professor  Barker,  who  then  occupied  the  chair  of  physics,  made  us  a 
little  farewell  speech  at  the  end  of  his  last  lecture,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  said,  “ Remember,  young  gentlemen,  that  although  you  have 
finished  your  elementary  education,  you  are  only  just  beginning  your 
real  education.”  At  the  time  I think  I believed  him,  in  a sense,  but  I 
certainly  had  no  such  vivid  realization  of  the  truth  of  his  words  as  I 
have  now,  as  I review  the  twenty-two  years  that  have  slipped  away 
since  they  were  uttered.  It  was  true;  my  education  was  but  just  be- 
ginning, and  I do  not  feel  that  it  has  as  yet  progressed  very  far.  I am 
sure  you  all  know  from  your  own  experience  something  of  what  I mean. 
Have  you  ever  felt  so  learned  as  you  did  in  Freshman  year?  Have  you 
not  found  that  this  proud  consciousness,  of  knowing  so  very  much, 
diminished  in  Sophomore  year,  diminished  still  more  in  Junior  year,  and 
still  more  in  Senior  year? 

And  so,  I think,  you  will  find  it  ever  diminishing  as  you  grow  older 
and  more  truly  wise.  Some  of  you  will,  no  doubt,  devote  yourselves  to 
a life  of  study,  others  will  enter  the  professions  or  business  life,  but 
whatever  your  calling,  you  may,  if  you  will,  continue  to  learn,  and  if  you 
do,  you  will  ever  and  anon  catch  glimpses,  so  to  speak,  down  the  illimit- 


60 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


able  vistas  that  lead  towards  the  Infinite  Unknown.  In  these  moments 
you  will  feel  how  utterly  insignificant  are  all  the  boasted  achievements 
of  the  human  intellect.  I trust  that  this  realizing  sense  of  your  own 
littleness  will  often  be  borne  home  to  you.  For  today  there  parade 
among  us,  adorned  in  all  the  proud  panoply  of  scientific  nomenclature, 
many  shallow  theories,  theories  which  claim  to  make  all  the  deepest 
mysteries  of  the  universe  and  of  man  as  simple  as  A,  B,  C,  capable  of 
comprehension  by  the  meanest  intellect.  Young  men,  and  especially 
young  men  of  active  minds  and  independent  spirit,  full  of  generous  en- 
thusiasms, impatient  of  the  slow  progress  of  the  past  and  eager  to 
bring  those  happier  days  of  which  they  dream,  are  I think  in  a peculiar 
sense  disposed  to  accept  these  bold  claims.  But  if  you  really  continue 
the  education  here  begun,  ado  to  your  stores  of  fact,  reach  the  position 
where  you  can  criticize  and  endeavor  to  amend  the  fundamental  laws 
and  generalizations  which  have  been  deduced  from  these  facts,  you  will, 

I am  sure,  become  in  an  ever  increasing  degree  distrustful  of  all  short, 
simple,  and  monosyllabic  explanations  of  the  system  of  the  universe  and 
of  the  destiny  of  man.  You  will  suspect  that  in  those  regions  into  which 
science  has  not  yet  penetrated,  which  faith  claims  as  her  own,  and  of 
which  she  seems  to  have  some  dim  apprehension,  may  be  found  the 

II  Great  Secret  ” which  man  has  sought  since  first  he  began  to  think. 
Then  may  you  learn,  where  sight  fails  you,  to  live  by  faith,  for  you 
will,  I am  firmly  convinced,  find  her  a trustworthy  guide,  and  will  not 
in  the  end  fail  of  your  dearest  hopes. 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


61 


HalT&trtorg  AhhrraH 

By  Allen  H.  St.  Clair. 

We  stand  today  upon  the  very  threshold  of  life.  As  we  look  back  over 
the  few  past  years  we  remember  that  when  first  we  began  our  college 
career,  the  time  which  must  be  spent  in  the  class-room  seemed  long,  and 
we  looked  eagerly  forward  to  the  day  when  we  could  lay  aside  our  books 
and  take  up  the  duty  of  a more  active  life.  But  our  college  days,  with 
their  freedom  from  care,  and  with  the  precepts  which  they  have  instilled 
into  our  minds,  have  been  very  happy  days  to  us  all.  All  too  swiftly 
they  have  flown,  and  now  we  enter  upon  the  real  journey  of  life, — a 
journey  that  we  shall  not  find  easy,  but  full  of  trials  and  vexations. 

Today  we  stand  at  the  fork  of  the  roads,  one  leading  to  success,  the 
other  to  failure,  and  now  has  come  the  time  when  we  must  choose  be- 
tween these  two  roads, — between  success  and  failure. 

Many  thoughts  arise  in  our  minds.  If  it  were  possible,  we  would  lift 
the  veil  of  the  future  and  find  therein  our  destiny,  but  this  is  denied  us; 
we  must  be  content  to  wait  to  find  what  time  may  have  in  store  for  us, 
remembering  that  success  is  not  won  in  a single  day  but  that  it  is  won 
through  patient  and  earnest  work. 

The  heights  by  great  men,  reached  and  kept, 

Were  not  attained  by  sudden  flight; 

But  they,  while  their  companions  slept, 

Went  toiling  upward  in  the  night. 

The  twentieth  century  has  but  lately  dawned.  Who  knows  what  great 
possibilities  lie  concealed  within  its  embrace,  waiting  only  for  the  touch 
of  man,  that  they  may  at  once  come  forth  in  all  their  splendor.  The 
world  is  ever  stretching  forth  its  hands  toward  the  willing  one,  beseech- 
ing him  to  clasp  it  and  to  enter  upon  that  road  which  leads  to  success. 
We  see  the  wonderful  things  which  have  been  accomplished  during  the 
last  hundred  years,  and  feel  that  the  twentieth  century  will  be  of  still 
greater  achievements  and  opportunities.  And  when  the  opportunities 
present  themselves  to  us,  let  us  not  stand  idly  by  and  let  them  pass 
into  the  hands  of  more  ambitious  ones,  thinking  that  others  will  soon 
present  themselves.  But  let  us  eagerly  grasp  each  one  as  it  appears. 

Why  do  you  stand  and  idly  wait? 

Behold!  the  hour  is  growing  late; 

Take  thy  rusty  cycle  down, 

And  labor  for  a fadeless  crown. 

One  person  enters  life  surrounded  by  all  the  advantages  of  wealth, 
another  steeped  in  poverty,  another  with  the  heritage  of  a good  name, 


02 


St.  John’s  College  Commencement  and 


another  with  the  gift  of  genius;  but  it  lies  entirely  with  the  person 
himself  whether  he  maintains  that  wealth,  that  poverty,  or  that  good 
name.  Some  of  those  who  in  former  years  crossed  over  the  threshold 
and  began  the  battle  of  life,  led  on  by  ambition  and  zeal,  have  suc- 
cessfully passed  through  the  many  trials  and  vexations  that  beset,  have 
risen  step  by  step  until  they  have  reached  that  goal  called  success. 
Others  with  just  as  bright  prospects  have  engaged  in  the  same  battle, 
but  not  possessing  the  same  energy  and  determination  have  failed, 
fallen  behind  their  fellow  countrymen,  and  are  today  standing  wrhere 
they  stood  at  the  beginning  of  this  journey,  or  have  even  moved  back- 
ward along  the  line  of  progress.  We  cannot  help  but  see  the  great 
difference  between  these  two  classes,  the  one  which  has  succeeded,  and 
the  one  wThich  has  failed.  But  let  us  forget  the  possibility  of  failure 
and  take  as  our  ideal  that  class  wrhich  has  passed  through  the  journey 
of  life  successfully. 

We  have  bright  hopes  and  brilliant  plans  for  the  future,  and  now  the 
opportunity  has  come  for  us  to  put  them  into  practice,  but  in  spite  of 
this  our  hearts  thrill  with  sadness  when  we  realize  that  this  is  the  last 
time  we  shall  all  assemble  here.  Our  college  career  has  ended,  and  all 
too  soon  has  come  the  time  when  we  must  bid  farewell  to  our  dear 
Alma  Mater.  No  more,  as  students,  shall  wre  traverse  these  halls  wdiich 
have  become  so  dear  to  us;  no  more  listen  to  the  familiar  yells;  no 
more  witness  the  contests  on  the  gridiron  or  the  diamond.  To  the 
students  of  this  college,  whom  we  have  learned  to  know  and  love  as. 
brothers,  we  have  now  to  say  farewell.  We  must  now  leave  the  in- 
structors who  have  guided  us  over  the  rough  and  thorny  paths  and 
pointed  us  to  fields  where  we  could  unearth  the  gems  of  knowledge. 

Fellow  students,  remember  that  you  have  the  honor  of  a noble  Col- 
lege to  uphold.  St.  John’s  seems  now  to  be  on  the  eve  of  a more 
illustrious  career,  and  it  depends  on  you,  fellow  students,  to  make  this 
career  one  that  every  alumnus  and  friend  shall  be  proud  of.  You  will 
reap  the  more  direct  benefit,  and  it  is  to  your  interest  that  you  prove- 
yourselves  worthy  of  your  Alma  Mater.  Our  eyes  will  ever  be  upon 
you  and  we  expect  you  to  prove  yourselves  men,  true  to  self  and  to 
St.  John’s. 

Mr.  President,  and  members  of  the  Faculty,  you  have  been  the  archi- 
tects of  that  character  building  that  shall  develop  the  truest  and  most 
potent  qualities  of  our  manhood.  For  many  of  us  the  educational  train- 
ing received  under  your  guidance  will  be  our  only  capital.  You  have 
endeavored  to  equip  us  with  requisites  for  a career  of  responsibility  and 
honorable  achievement.  We  deeply  appreciate  the  wrork  you  have  done 
for  us,  and  we  trust  the  seed  you  have  sown  now  lies  in  fruitful  soil. 
As  we  step  out  by  your  side  to  fight  the  battle  of  life,  may  you  con- 
tinue to  follow  us  with  kind  interest  and  sympathy. 

But  by  far  the  saddest  thought  to  us  is  that  the  members  of  our 
class  must  now  sever  the  tender  chords  wThich  have  bound  us  so  closely 
to  each  other,  and  must  now  go  out  into  the  world  with  the  loss  of  that 


One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  Anniversary 


63 


influence  which  our  close  association  has  exerted  upon  each  other.  Our 
associations  here  have  been  to  us  all  a pleasure  and  a help.  There  have 
been  times  when  some  of  us  misunderstood  each  other’s  motives,  times 
when  perhaps  we  were  jealous  of  each  other’s  progress,  but  those  times 
have  passed.  We  are  proud  of  the  work  our  class  has  done,  but  let  us 
not  be  content  with  this,  but  let  us  aim  high  and  bring  even  greater 
laurels  upon  our  Alma  Mater.  Day  after  day  we  will  revive  the 
memories  of  college  life;  day  after  day  we  shall  recall  incidents  of  our 
college  career. 

Today  we  have  learned  to  know  and  value  each  other  better  than  ever 
before;  Today  a cnerished  life  is  passing  away;  Today  we  must  bid 
farewell  to  one  another  and  enter  that  field  of  which  we  are  now  to 
become  a part. 

Military  Announcements  were  then  made  by  the  Adjutant. 

Singing  Class  Ode. 

Benediction  by  Rev.  J.  Gardner  Murray,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore. 

Following  the  Commencement  Exercises  a beautiful  and  delightful 
luncheon  was  served  at  the  house  of  the  President,  Dr.  Thomas  Fell. 
Mrs.  Fell  received  the  guests,  assisted  by  Mrs.  John  Wirt  Randall,  the 
wife  of  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Visitors,  and  all  the  visiting  dele- 
gates, the  Board  of  Visitors,  with  their  wives,  and  the  graduating  class, 
together  with  a number  of  the  Alumni  attended. 


UNIVERSITY  OE  ILLINOIS 


PRESIDENT'S  OFFICE. 


